This book offers the first broad, accessible history of the concentration camps of the Anglo-Boer [South African] war in more than 50 years – and it's the first to draw deeply on the rich official records held in South African and British archives. By doing so, it brings a fresh and thoughtful perspective to a subject that understandably still evokes strong emotions, giving the devastation devastating loss of life in the camps, particularly among Afrikaner women and children
Rather than repeating familiar arguments, this engaging social history challenges many long-held assumptions from all sides and is sure to spark debate. The author looks beyond the camps as merely a consequence of the wars' scorched earth policies, placing them instead within the wider context of the late 19th-century colonialism. In doing so, the book shows how British attitudes towards poverty, welfare and colonial governments shaped the way the camps were run.
It also asks difficult but important questions: why were the camps so poorly managed, and why did improvements come so slowly? The answers point to a mix of divided responsibilities, lack of knowledge, political manoeuvring and a fundamental failure to understand what such institutions required to function humanely.
384 pages