Publisher's Synopsis
This is an unconventional and profusely illustrated presentation of the diverse themes that constitute the past at the southern tip of Africa. Human and carnivore evolution, colonial slavery and apartheid, science and romance, are all intermeshed to show how we create the past and also how we understand the present. The palaeontological findings of Raymond Dart, Robert Ardrey and Glynn Isaac are lined up against a famous dispute about carnivore evolution that flourished in the heyday of apartheid. Pioneering exploration of the globe is set against archaeological surveys and romantic quests in the African desert, and the dark days of colonial slavery at the Cape are contrasted with the bright prospects of Nelson Mandela's legacy in South Africa today.
