The Day the World Ended at Little Big Horn – A Lakota History by Joseph M Marshall III

Joseph M Marshall III is perhaps one of my favourite historians, and the real treat is not to read his books but to pick up the audiobooks – he narrates his owns work, and I could listen to him on repeat. Even more important is what he has to impart – the history of the United States as told from the perspective of the Lakota.

Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and even Colonel Custer – they all come to vivid life through Marshall's telling as he takes a deep dive into the complexities of the milieu, where two cultures collided so catastrophically and a great wrong was done to the Indigenous American people.

If anything, I have walked away with a far deeper understanding of this time in history, which has allowed me a far more empathic view of my own country's history and the sheer awfulness of the injustices perpetrated by colonialism globally. 

Marshall himself is a phenomenal storyteller and historian, and not only does he go into great detail about this battle, but he also creates a solid socio-cultural context for readers to understand the actions that led up to the conflict, which I believe is vital in offering a more nuanced representation of events that transpired.

We are faced not only with the repercussions of this battle, but also how the Lakota people's lives were irrevocably changed by the move to life on the reservations, and the countless empty promises and treaties made by the Europeans who took their land.

So often we hear of the 'massacre' of Custer and his troops but how often do we pause to reflect that the Lakota were fighting not only for their land but their very way of life. This book is hard to listen to, but so important – I feel I have stepped away with a greater sense of empathy and a deeper understanding of the other side of history that is not often portrayed in so much detail.

Yet despite the gloom, I still gain a sense that Marshall brings with this work a message of not losing hope and of pride in his people's incredible courage and heritage. 

Hiking Beyond Cape Town by Nina du Plessis and Willie Olivier

I will start by saying that I pretty much grew up in and around Cape Town's mountain hiking trails. My parents were both avid hikers, and from a young age I was dragged up all manner of places – some of them rather daunting, like the infamous hike around the Hout Bay Sentinel (not for the faint of heart). So as someone who still enjoys the occasional excursion, a book like Hiking Beyond Cape Town by Nina du Plessis and Willie Olivier is pretty much a keeper.

This slim volume offers a range of options that will broaden horizons, and is both informative, with beautiful photos, plus also an overview of what to expect in terms of fauna and flora of the Cape region (so I'm guessing this will also make a nifty gift to enthusiastic out-of-town friends who'd like several reasons for return visits).

The book is divided by region, with popular hikes in the Northern Suburbs, the Helderberg, Overberg, the Winelands, and also further afield to locations such as Waenhuiskrans, Cogmanskloof Trail, and others. The authors give practical advice on what to pack and how to plan for your excursions, which is useful to those who're not au fait with hiking in the Cape mountains.

Each hike is accompanied by an informative information panel for location, parking availability, highlights, elevation, grade, distance/duration, the best times for a visit, important information, and availability of maps, permits, and entry times, as well as facilities/amenities, and any other activities that are on offer. The authors then give their own experiences in getting there and what they know of the area, so that by the time you're on the hike, you have a pretty good idea of what to expect, with a little background information to boot. What I especially like is that they give information for which trails are dog-friendly. Of course etiquette dictates that you keep Fido on a lead whenever you are in a wild area, as you don't want to have him bounding off chasing any wildlife.

For me this is a particularly valuable book because of late, I've felt that my old haunts are now so overcrowded with trail runners and cyclists, that it's nigh on impossible to enjoy the mountains like I used to when I was a wee sprite. And while this book is not exhaustive, it's a good starting point for those who perhaps are not an experienced hiker, while also giving insights to other areas that are off the beaten track for those of us who're accustomed to the familiar. 

This book may be small, but it's also chock full of wonderful photos to whet the appetite, and is a gateway to encouraging folks to get out and appreciate all the wonder and beauty of the Cape Floral Kingdom.

Precursor (Foreigner #4) by CJ Cherryh

The more I look at this series, the more I begin to realise how prescient Cherryh is in terms of socio-cultural world building – there are lessons for us that are relevant today. For the sake of those who're not invested in this gargantuan series, I'll keep my review short and sweet. 

Humans and the indigenous atevi are simply hardwired differently. But the humans are doing what humans in a post-colonial situation gone tits-up usually do – lean on their incredible sense of entitlement to make a fraught situation worse. And now, added to the mix, we have humans who've returned from an interstellar jaunt to lay claim to the atevi home world's natural resources and the space station orbiting the planet. Even worse, they're fleeing from a big bad from another solar system that may have followed them here.

The space station is a big point of contention. The humans abandoned it ages ago, and now the atevi want to lay claim to it – especially since they've seen the possibilities of space travel thanks to having been given access to the humans' technology. The big question is will everyone play nice (of course not!).

And we're once again walking in our interpreter/diplomat/spy's shoes as Bren, our intrepid paidhi, attempts to navigate this political minefield. As always, his loyalties are called into question – he's been working for the leader of the atevi's strongest political power for so long that he struggles to relate to humans. Yet he can never forget that he's not atevi. The lens with which he views his world is distorted, and at a time when the stakes couldn't be higher, this is a dangerous place to be.

As much as he'd like to remain impartial, he can't help but be drawn into the murky dealings, and things get dangerous, fast – especially when Bren thinks that he has a handle on things. He has some pretty nifty manoeuvrings to perform, and the tension in this instalment had me clawing at my seat. Nothing is ever easy, and everyone he knows – or thinks he knows – has a few spanners to throw at him. Trust, when it's most needed, is in short supply, which is a problem when each group suffers from the conviction that their way of doing things is the only way.

This is part political thriller, espionage, and good, old-fashioned space opera. Advice to any South Africans wanting to read Cherryh's books – they're hard to come by. Either listen to the audiobooks or visit Thriftbooks or Abe books.