THE JOBURG BOOK. A guide to the city's history, people & places

2008. High quality soft cover; 332 pages. Very good condition; like new. Over 1kg

The Joburg Book is an engaging and authoritative history that follows the story of the city through its spaces and communities – an inclusive, contemporary book featuring a selection of songs, poems and expert articles that give voice to the city’s peoples and reflect its shifting social landscapes.

From ancient rivers filled with gold and deep-impact meteorites, through the dark decades of Apartheid and beyond the fragile transition into democracy, The Joburg Book captures the city’s often uneasy relationship with its past and its future.

Longlisted for the Alan Paton Award for non-fiction, The Joburg Book has sold nearly 10 000 copies since it was published in 2008.     

“Sometimes the exploits of our founders reads like an over-the-top novel. Other incidents have a gravitas and are sometimes brutal reminders of man’s inhumanity.”
– The Star 

“More than a history book and more than a guide…”
– Laurice Taitz, todoinjoburg.co.za 

“Until Nechama [Brodie]‘s The Joburg Book came along, there was to me a real lack of memorialising the city, celebrating the city, and documenting the city, in fact. I know there were people doing stuff, there was stuff going on, but generally in the mainstream there just seemed to me to be a lack of it, and I was struck by that, you know — the greatest city in Africa, effectively. And we’re not remembering it.”
– Hermann Niebuhr, artist 

“Every self-respecting Johannesburg aficionado already has a copy of Nechama Brodie’s The Joburg Book gracing their coffee table or bookshelf. It revolutionised the way many residents viewed their city and suburbs by offering an authoritative background to the founding and development of the City of Gold we know today.”
– Getaway magazine