Hermann Giliomee, pre-eminent South African historian, dissects the forces that shaped the Afrikaners into an unusual 'maverick African' nation. In part one of this collection, he analyses long-term forces like the powerful legal position of Afrikaner women, the expanding frontier that gave rise to individualism and later to republicanism, and the struggles about race inside the Dutch Reformed Church. The second part examines controversial aspects of more recent Afrikaner political history, including the alleged civil service purges after 1948, Nationalist corruption, the Absa 'Lifeboat' and the quality of Afrikaner leadership. Finally, there is a chapter on the "broken heart" of the Afrikaner community.