Oom Paul's People: A Narrative of the British-Boer Troubles in South Africa, with a History of the Boers, the Country, and Its Institutions

Written in 1899, on the eve of the Second Boer War, this is neither neutral history nor dispassionate analysis. It is advocacy - a passionate defense of the Boer people and their right to self-determination against British imperial expansion. The author sets out to correct what he views as British misconceptions about the Boers, painting a portrait of a pastoral, devout, freedom-loving people who have endured decades of grievance at the hands of the British Crown. The book details the geographic and demographic complexity of South Africa - the distinctions between Boer and Uitlander, the fertile coastal regions and the arid interior - while mounting an argument for Boer virtue and British injustice. Oom Paul himself, President Kruger, looms as the steadfast leader of a people who prefer poverty and independence to prosperity under foreign rule. For readers interested in colonial history, this book serves as a vital primary source: not a window onto what actually happened, but a window onto how one side in a brutal conflict understood themselves at the moment before everything changed.