Shaka Zulu

LIMITED AUTOGRAPHED EDITION This is the original unedited manuscript of the 1985 bestselling novel by Joshua Sinclair which was adapted by him into the legendary television series by the same name. This true story chronicles with mythic detail the life of Shaka Zulu, the greatest African leader in history. Framed around Queen Victoria's decision on England's political stance towards the Zulu Nation, the novel starts with Shaka's illegitimate birth, taking us through his difficult childhood, his obsessive attachment to his mother Nandi, to his overthrow of the leadership of the Zulu nation. Building on his innovative methods of warfare, King Shaka established the most disciplined standing army in the history of Mankind (over one million strong at any given time) expanding the Zulu domain from a small tribe of less than 2,000 to an empire greater than that of Napoleon encompassing much of what is now south-east Africa. Mixing prophecy with oral tradition, the author, Joshua Sinclair, spans four decades of Africa's History dramatically punctuating the rise and fall of the one of most formidable empire this world has ever known.

Shaka struggles to retain power as challenges at home and from across an ocean threaten his new rule.

Since his assassination in 1828, King Shaka Zulu--founder of the powerful Zulu kingdom and leader of the army that nearly toppled British colonial rule in South Africa--has made his empire in popular imaginations throughout Africa and the West. Shaka is today the hero of Zulu nationalism, the centerpiece of Inkatha ideology, a demon of apartheid, the namesake of a South African theme park, even the subject of a major TV film. Terrific Majesty explores the reasons for the potency of Shaka's image, examining the ways it has changed over time--from colonial legend, through Africanist idealization, to modern cultural icon. This study suggests that "tradition" cannot be freely invented, either by European observers who recorded it or by subsequent African ideologues. There are particular historical limits and constraints that operate on the activities of invention and imagination and give the various images of Shaka their power. These insights are illustrated with subtlety and authority in a series of highly original analyses. Terrific Majesty is an exceptional work whose special contribution lies in the methodological lessons it delivers; above all its sophisticated rehabilitation of colonial sources for the precolonial period, through the demonstration that colonial texts were critically shaped by indigenous African discourse. With its sensitivity to recent critical studies, the book will also have a wider resonance in the fields of history, anthropology, cultural studies, and postcolonial literature.

This scholarly account traces the emergence of the Zulu Kingdom in South Africa in the early nineteenth century, under the rule of the ambitious and iconic King Shaka. In contrast to recent literary analyses of myths of Shaka, this book uses the richness of Zulu oral traditions and a comprehensive body of written sources to provide a compelling narrative and analysis of the events and people of the era of Shaka's rule. The oral traditions portray Shaka as rewarding courage and loyalty and punishing failure; as ordering the targeted killing of his own subjects, both warriors and civilians, to ensure compliance to his rule; and as arrogant and shrewd, but kind to the poor and mentally disabled. The rich and diverse oral traditions, transmitted from generation to generation, reveal the important roles and fates of men and women, royal and subject, from the perspectives of those who experienced Shaka's rule and the dramatic emergence of the Zulu Kingdom.

"The classic of African History -- a biography of Shaka Zulu, founder of the Zulu nation, born leader and brilliant general...E.A. Ritter grew up with the Zulus, earning their respect and accumulating a rich store of material during his long association with them. Shaka's life and deeds had been handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation, and they are here evoked with a sense of drama and an eye for detail." -- Back cover.

What was life like as leader of the Zulu Kingdom in Africa? Why not let Shaka Zulu tell you about it? You'll read about his triumphant victories and agonizing defeats, as well as learning what day-to-day life was like for the Zulu people. A postscript explains how and what happened after he died.