Four decades ago, The Solution — a best-seller co-authored by Leon Louw — helped shape South Africa's political settlement and left an indelible imprint on its Constitution. Today, the country finds itself at an economic impasse once more, and Louw's ideas feel more urgent than ever.In this deeply researched and elegantly told account, Tim Cohen, one of South Africa's most respected and incisive financial journalists, draws on hours of conversations with Louw to capture th...

Nationalisation: Swear word for some, cure-all for others both within and outside the ruling party.Tim Cohen, a senior journalist with many years experience in both political and business reporting, traces the emergence of calls for nationalisation in South African politics. It is a subject which has become the most fiercely argued and passionate economic debate of modern-day South African politics. This is particularly so since the call for nationalisation is so closely associated...

The post-Apartheid era shows fascinating echoes of the era after the Boer War: Afrikaners learning that they can win by 'losing', the trade-off between vengeance and forbearance, and a worrying trajectory towards nationalism. Efforts to reconcile 'the nation' are treacherous and demand trade-offs. Tim Cohen looks at how Louis Botha and Nelson Mandela managed the transitions they were overseeing - and how both suffered the backlash. Is reconciliation even possible?

Through a series of essays by leading demographers, environmentalists and reproductive health advocates, A Pivotal Moment offers a new perspective on the complex connection between population dynamics and environmental quality. It presents the latest research on the relationship between population growth and climate change, ecosystem health and other environmental issues. It surveys the new demographic landscape—in which population growth rates have fallen, but human numbers continue to in...

In the past fifty years, more than $1 trillion in development-related aid has been transferred from rich countries to Africa. Has this assistance improved the lives of Africans? No. In fact, across the continent, the recipients of this aid are not better off as a result of it, but worse—much worse.In Dead Aid, Dambisa Moyo describes the state of postwar development policy in Africa today and unflinchingly confronts one of the greatest myths of our time: that billions of do...

One of the greatest historians writing today gives us a defining portrait of the incomparable Winston ChurchillIn his landmark biography of Winston Churchill, acclaimed historian John Keegan offers a very human portrait of one of the twentieth century's enduring symbols of heroic defiance. From Churchill's youth as a poor student to his leadership during World War II, Keegan reveals a man whose own idea of an English past—eloquently embodied in his speeches—allowed...

In 1977 R W Johnson’s best-selling How Long Will South Africa Survive? provided a controversial analysis of the survival prospects of the apartheid regime. Now, after more than twenty years of ANC rule, he believes the situation has become so critical that the question must be posed again. He moves from an analysis of Jacob Zuma’s rule to the increasingly dire state of the South African economy, concluding that the country is heading towards a likely International Monetary Fund bail-out, w...

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour…Sir Winston Churchill was a soldier, journalist, writer, Nobel Prize winner and, above all, a leader. Conservative then Liberal then Conservative again, his political instincts won him a sustained career at the summit of British government, while his resolve and politics of personality made him broadly regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century.With his early radicalism, bold decisions regarding ...

A blueprint for the nation after the boom.Australians have just lived through a period of exceptional prosperity, but, says influential economist Ross Garnaut, the Dog Days are on their way. Are we ready for the challenges ahead?In Dog Days, Garnaut explains how we got here, what we can expect next and the tough choices we need to make to survive the new economic conditions. Are we clever enough – and our leaders courageous enough – to change what ...

Born just two weeks apart in 1874, Winston Churchill and William Lyon Mackenzie King took different paths to achieve their objective of a parliamentary career, Churchill through military exploits and King via academic excellence. When he became prime minister, King realized that Canada had to progress from a subservient position to an independent one. Thus, when the Second World War broke out, Canada's parliament made its own decision to be a participant.King had been highly critic...

A fearless act of journalism in 1960s Nigeria and the true story behind the international bestselling novel The Dogs of War.The Nigerian civil war of the late 1960s was one of the first occasions when Western consciences were awakened and deeply affronted by the level of suffering and the scale of atrocity being played out in the African continent. This was thanks not just to advances in communication technology but to the courage and journalistic skills o...

Economic growth does not demand a secret formula. Good development examples now abound in East Asia and further afield in others parts of Asia, and in Central America. But why then has Africa failed to realise its potential in half a century of independence? Why Africa is Poor demonstrates that Africa is poor not because the world has denied the continent the market and financial means to compete: far from it. It has not been because of aid per se. Nor is African poverty solely a ...