A CENTURY IS A SHORT TIME – NEW PERSPECTIVES ON THE ANGLO-BOER WAR/EDITED BY A CENTURY IS A SHORT TIME – NEW PERSPECTIVES ON THE ANGLO-BOER WAR BY INA SNYMAN, IAN LIEBENBERG, GERT VAN DER WESTHUIZEN, MARIAAN ROOS

Abstract

The editors claim that this book attempts to further stimulate debate on
the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902. Therefore, they included contributions from
different disciplines, but with the main emphasis still on historical writing. They
strived to continue the tradition to regard all historical debate as temporary and
within the expression by the Dutch historian, Pieter Geyl, that history is a debate
without end. From that point of view, the publication is timely and has the
potential to enhance our comprehension of one of the events that had a profound
influence on the history of South Africa. Because of the divergent approaches of
the different authors, the different contributions are briefly analysed before a value
judgement on the publication as a whole is made.