Adrift on the Open Veld

The Anglo-Boer War and its aftermath 1899-1943

 Softcover 1999

First Edition

This is a trilogy of Deneys Reitzs three compelling works, Commando, Trekking On and No Outspan.

Since publication in 1999, it has become an outstanding seller in its own right. It provides the reader with a lively, personal account of South African affairs from the Jameson Raid in 1895 to the start of World War II, when the author was Deputy Prime Minister of South Africa.

It is also the story of a compulsive adventurer, nature lover and, of course, celebrated daredevil during the Anglo-Boer War who, in the words of Thomas Packenham, had the uncanny knack of living through war as though leafing through pages of an adventure story. Truly, this knack persisted for the rest of the authors life; and Adrift on the Open Veld gives the reader a gripping insight into southern African affairs through the eyes of a remarkable man who ended his career as South African High Commissioner in London A brilliant book, it was great to get the complete history of South Africa during the first half of the twentieth century through the eyes of a man who lived through it

. I had On Commando the first book in this triology as a teenager growing up on the Veld but had not read the two later books. My father who is an avid political and military historian of the 18th, 19th and 20th centurys is the recipient of this masterpiece and can not put it down which is the mark of a really good book, he speed reads and rarely returns to a text unless quoting from it. This book is permanently being reread