De la Rey Lion of the West. - Johannes Meintjies (Hardcover with DJ)

Johannes Meintjies, drawing on a vast mass of unpublished material, has tackled the whole De la Rey story from the pioneering days of his childhood in the Free State and the Transvaal , through the First War of Independence, and on to the Boer War. Meintjies takes us on a journey to the great battles of Modderrivier and Magersfontein, the campaign in the Western Transvaal up to Tweebosch and the Treaty of Vereeniging, the Convention at Durban and the First World War, ending with the tremendous climax of 15 September 1914, when De la Rey was shot dead on the eve of the Rebellion.

In this biography we are brought close to a man of power and passion, of warmth and humor, through whose life strange forces moved such as the 'Prophet' Van Rensburg who passed, like a godly messenger in an ancient Greek tragedy, through the later phases of De la Reys life. Patriotism and humor, aggression, guilt and mystery feature in the story of the magnificent De la Rey, striding the South African landscape in a lonely dignity towards his ultimate destiny.