South Africa

I like reading fiction novels. I usually get hooked on a specific author and read all their titles before moving on to the next.

I've been reading an author named Wilbur Smith over the last year or so.
http://www.wilbursmithbooks.com/home/index.html
He is a native of South Africa and writes what I call Historic Fiction. He uses fictional characters but in correct historical context.

His Egypt novels are what got me started. River God is a book I rank in my all-time top 5. The Taita character in these Egypt books is fabulous.

The Courtney Novels are about English seamen that settled in Colonial South Africa. We follow the family from the 15th century to the 20th century. For some reason there is a gap during the 19th century. Sean Courtney is the main patriarch of the family once they settle in South Africa. His adventures start out in The Lion Feeds.

Through reading Mr. Smith's books I have developed a great appreciation for South African history. There has seldom been a time in S.A. when there wasn't internal strife by rival groups. The most obvious being apartheid.
Recently I ran across several news articles regarding xenophobic attacks .

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
xen·o·pho·bi·a
–noun
an unreasonable fear or hatred of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange.

This just goes to show that the climate in South Africa continues to be arduous and violent even in current times. I found it strange that these riots and attacks were not widely covered here in the U.S. Here are some links to a couple of South African news outlets if you'd like to read for your self:
http://www.sabcnews.com/
http://www.mg.co.za/