Books to read if you're planning a vacation in "angola", sorted by average review score:
Forged in battle
Published in Unknown Binding by Saayman & Weber ()
Average review score: 
The Terrifying OnesI have this book - bought years ago whilst I was still a member of the SADF and doing active service for my country. Jan gets it spot on with this one, his skill at story telling is great! 32 Battalion was a very well respected unit in the SADF and one can easily see why when reading this book. Jan's account of the 1975 incursion into Angola is accurate and detailed without becoming boring. His addition of some very funny incidents adds real enjoyment to a great book. I only wish that more South African Defence force Officers would write about their experiences in the 23 year long terrorist war in South West Africa... it would make the chaos that now reigns a little more bearable. LEST WE FORGET...
OutStanding. Well Worth readingThis book follows the development of the 32 Battalion from it's confused origins from former enemies and terrorists into the best Counter-Insurgency force in the world.
This book is a MUST HAVE for anyone who is interested in the Southern African Military Scene/History and the SWA/ANGOLA/NAMIBIA conflict
Patriots
Published in Unknown Binding by Penguin Books ()
Average review score:
A Fine, Forgotten NovelThis is the best African novel I've read. It astounds me that bad writers like Ben Okri are celebrated, while Jamba's brilliant account of civil war is forgotten. It's hard to find, but if you can get it, you'll be glad you did.
Let's get freeThis book changed my life. I'm an Angolan living in the "exile" (Hosi childhood was in my hometown), for almost 8 years and I really enjoyed the way Hosi sees the Angolan struggle in this book. Even though I desagree with his party's ideias. I give a lot of credits to Jamba because this book is foul of corauge and it's a "wake call" for a cause that politics are trying to keep away from the people, and it's a cause suitable for all the Angolans regardless their political party. Angola is ours and we can never turn our back to it. "antes morrer na batalha do que ver a disgraca do nosso templo" it means death before dishonor. One love for all the Angolan Patriots
Angola: Five Centuries of Conflict
Published in Textbook Binding by Cornell Univ Pr (December, 1979)
Average review score:
Good resourceI don't actually own this book, but I took it out from the library and enjoyed reading it. The author, who lived in Angola for several years, did a good job of explaining the history of Angola and its people from the first contact with the Portuguese up until the independence. The book explains many of the conflicts Angola has suffered and continues to suffer as a result of colonialism, ethnolinguistic clashes, and the conflict of African and european nationalisms. A good resource for information on how the April 25 Movement in Portugal related to the independence of Angola.
Blood on the Tracks: A Rail Journey from Angola to Mozambique
Published in Hardcover by Pan Macmillan (23 September, 1994)
Average review score:
Miles Bredin and Harriet Logan capture the essence of AngolaAfter having spent nearly three years in Angola with an international organization, I have my own views on Angola, the Government and the laboured peace process and left Angola more than a little cynical. Mr. Bredin and Ms. Logan's book covers not only Angola, but (the former)Zaire, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. It was with great pleasure that I read the book which also accounts the tumultuous events in Angola of 1992, all related with a healthy dose of humour. It brought back a lot of good memories for me and I feel it really captured the essense of the country and the people, not only of Angola, but the other countries through which the Benguela Railroad passes. Armed with this book, I visited some of the major towns along the railway including Benguela and Huambo during my time there, a fascinating experience made all the better by "Blood on the Tracks". An excellent book and a great introduction to the realities of life in Southern Africa.
Borderstrike! : South Africa into Angola
Published in Unknown Binding by Woburn, Mass. : Butterworths ()
Average review score:
Seminal reading about the SADF's Involvement in AngolaThis book by Capt Willem Steenkamp is an excellent way to begin the journey of discovery about the SADF's involvement in Angola. Not only is Capt Steenkamp a journalist, but he is a member of the Cape Town Highlanders and "He was there" as a serving soldier. Excellent book! Buy it !
Changing the History of Africa: Angola and Namibia
Published in Paperback by Ocean Press (March, 1991)
Average review score:
Good book for perspective, some flaws in the factsThis book contains a selection of essays from various role-players in the Angolan/South African conflict, including the famous essay by Nobel Prize-winner, Gabriel Garcia Marquez "Operation Carlota", and a few of "Fidel Castro's" speeches.
While a lot of this is propaganda, it at least gives an impression of the war from the Cuban and Angolan perspective.
This book needs to be read in conjunction with one of the books written from the South African perpective, such as the one by Fred Bridgland "The War for Africa" and others, and you need to draw your own conclusions.
The human suffering that this war generated, is still a legacy of the Southern African Continent, with the issue of the remaining landmines bringing this issue to the attention of the media once again, particularly with the visit of Lady Diana just recently.
For anyone who wishes to gain a balanced view of the progress of the war, as well as some of it's roots, this book is one of the key elements to garnering that information.
Contested Power in Angola, 1840s to the Present (Rochester Studies in African History and the Diaspora, 6)
Published in Hardcover by Univ of Rochester Pr (May, 2000)
Average review score:
A Definitive History of Central AngolaLinda Heywood has written a very fine study of a critical region of Angola. Her particular contribution is to trace the background of the area back into the pre-colonial period and to carry the history of the Ovimbundu up to the present day, including the formation of the UNITA party and the history of Jonas Savimbi. This book should be read by anyone wanting to understand the Angolan civil war, especially as it is cool headed and impartial. Careful readers might note the extraordinary documentary material that Heywood has used, from archives all over the world in several languages. A monument to scholarship
The Destruction of a Nation: United States' Policy Toward Angola Since 1945
Published in Paperback by Pluto Press (01 January, 1997)
Average review score:
A Comprehensive History of the US-Angolan relationshipProfessor Wright of California State University Chico has put together the most readible and comprehensive source of information on the history of the US-Angola relationship. This relationship has often times been both bizzare and interesting.
With a recommendation from Noam Chomsky, one would have expected the tone of the book to be unabashedly slanted to the left; however, the book manages to achieve enormous strength from Wrights ability to tell this shameful episode in US foreign policy in a balanced and well documented fashion. It makes a great companion to William Minter's Apartheid's Contras.
The chapters dealing with the Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon administrations are a great addition, since most written accounts focus solely on the Ford though Reagan time period.
Jonas Savimbi: A Key to Africa
Published in Hardcover by Paragon House (March, 1987)
Average review score:
A great way to learn about a fighterI read it when I was in Angola as a volunteer for UNAVEM II to better understand the fight for 'Total Independence' by UNITA, Mr. Savimbi's organization. Very engrossing account of Savimbi's extra-ordinary life. Great book to read to understand the geo-politics of south-west africa.
Marcello Caetano, Angola e o 25 de abril : uma polémica com Veríssimo Serrão
Published in Unknown Binding by Editorial Inquâerito ()
Average review score:
Marcello Caetano, Angola e o 25 de AprilI am from Angola, and I would like to have this copy in my library. I am very familiar with the 25 of April 1974. And Silveiro Silvino Marques was an Angolan general governor, in 1974 to 1975. But, before he was working with the dictator António de Oliveira Salazar in 1962.