Some reading material to help visitors understand the Joburg melting pot – past and present.

NEED to get your head around what Johannesburg has to offer? Probably the best quick read is Chic Jozi, the Jo’burg pocketbook by Nadine Rubin and Nikki Temkin. This book will offer everything you need to know about the city, from jol-ing around Jozi to working out at the nearest gym.

But there are many books written about the city, its personalities, its townships, its history and architecture. Check out our guide (some of the books might only be available at one of the city’s libraries).

Chic Jozi, the Jo’burg pocketbook
Nadine Rubin and Nikki Temkin (Struik, 2005)
The authors have certainly done their homework with this book. Grab your copy for a very thorough look at everything chic in the city: where and how to de-stress, where to buy great flowers, the best caterers, second-hand book stores, butcheries, wallpapers, copper, belly-dancing, martial arts . . . and of course, eating and shopping and jolling for all tastes. And for those with drooping sex lives, try the sensualist. Scattered throughout the 200-page illustrated book are chic tips and cheap thrills – very worthwhile. If you live in the northern suburbs, this book is a must for your back pocket.

Postcards from Soweto
Mokone Molete (Jacana, 2007)
This is a down-to-earth collection of 25 short recollections of growing up in Soweto, told with affection and humour. Molete writes about his father, his friends, his teachers, the village idiot, jailbirds, pub crawlers, and endearing characters like Abuti Beef and Pick Six. It’s an often violent upbringing, with beatings by parents and teachers commonplace. Molete says that 60 percent of the events are true. The remaining 40 percent make the stories very enjoyable.


Tales from Jozi - photographs by Jurgen Schadeberg
(Protea, 2007)
Sharing a room with two others, playing chess in Joubert Park, playing golf in Kensington, children “playing” on a dirty stairway, elegant book launches at the Constitutional Court, strip clubs, crumpled beds, glitzy night clubs, flashy cars at an auto show … are just some of the images Schadeberg captures in this city of extreme contrasts. The book is the result of an approach to Schadeberg by the Centre for Applied Legal Studies, asking him to record the living conditions of inner city dwellers, as evidence to defend the tenants against eviction. The photographs are interspersed with well-written, insightful articles. The many unsmiling faces looking out from the photographs attest to the hard lives of many Joburgers.

Portrait with Keys, Joburg & what-what
Ivan Vladislavić (Umuzi, 2006)
This book consists of one man’s leisurely and idle train of thought through living life in Joburg. Written in an easy, non-judgemental style, Vladislavić clearly enjoys the city and its people and writes with affection of things distinctly Joburg: Max the gorilla, Hillbrow, the snow of 1981, the Marymount Nursing Home, the Gandhi house, David Webster’s house in Eleanor Street, Lionel Abrahams, the security strike in Beyers Naude Square, Roberts Avenue in Kensington, and many other fleeting impressions, in 138 separate thoughts. An enjoyable, intriguing read.

Light on the Hill, building the Constitutional Court of South Africa
Bronwyn Law-Viljoen (David Krut Publishing, 2006)
This is quite simply a beautiful book. Its 171 pages are filled with truly stunning photographs of the court from every possible angle, showing off what must be one of the world's most spectacular buildings. The photographs capture the many diverse spaces and complementary, warm materials used, as well as the lush textures in the garden. Sprinkled with comments from judges of the court, architects, builders and artisans involved in its construction, the book leaves you feeling almost a part of the planning and construction process. A selection of the architects' evolving sketches reproduced in the book make for an intriguing look into the heads of the architects and how the process developed.

Soweto ’76, Reflections on the Liberation Struggle
(SkotaviLife books, 2006)
This book released to mark the 30th anniversary of 16 June 1976, captures the same sense as a visit to the Apartheid Museum: of being there on the day, dodging bullets and teargas, and carrying away your dead classmates. It takes the reader through the range of emotions experienced in Soweto on the day, by means of poetry, oral testimonies, freedom songs, autobiographies, police files, a death toll list and a map. Replete with moving stories, it's not a book to be read in one sitting. You'll need to absorb the detail, think about the courage of those involved and reflect on how far the country has come since 1976.


Number Four – The Making of Constitution Hill
(Penguin, 2006)
It is significant that a book recording the brutal history of the prison complex on Constitution Hill consists of dozens of different voices – it’s a place that affected thousands of lives. The text is made up of the voices of ex-prisoners, architects, judges, heritage experts, city officials and politicians, in an easy-to-digest style. The story takes the reader through the dark period of incarceration and pain into the new era of freedom and finding a new purpose for the precinct, all the while respecting the past. The wonderful photographs enhance the poignant story.

Born in Soweto, inside the heart of South Africa
Heidi Holland (Penguin, 1994)
Heidi Holland ventures into the troubled pre-1994 Soweto to speak to the people of the township – young tsotsis, paramedics, school kids, shebeen owners, sangomas, caregivers and reformed criminals. The result is a book which is insightful and compassionate, leaving the reader with a sense of the overwhelming poverty and hardship Sowetans suffer daily, but also with a sense of their hope, resilience and will to survive. It makes for a compelling read.

Soweto Inside Out
Edited by Adam Roberts and Joe Thloloe (Pengiun, 2004)
This book is a follow-up to “From Jo’burg to Jozi, stories about Africa’s infamous city” but looking exclusively at the vibrant township of Soweto. The editors asked 47 writers and journalists, some local, some foreign, to write about their Soweto experiences, and the result is a lively look under the skin of the township. Not everyone loves the place, some hate it, but most – the late Aggrey Klaaste, Sam Nhlengethwa, Sandile Memela, Anthony Sampson, to list a few – love the place and although they’ve moved into the suburbs, are still regular visitors to Soweto, such is its pull.

From Jo’burg to Jozi, stories about Africa’s infamous city
Heidi Holland and Adam Roberts (Penguin, 2002)
The authors asked 60 local and foreign journalists to write 1 000 words on Jozi, to hit the bookstores in time for the many visitors to the city attending the World Summit on Sustainable Development in August 2002. The result is a sparkling collection of very readable stories on people, love, architecture, motor cars, apartheid, Soweto and the pain and joy of living in this vibrant city. Royalties from the book go to charities assisting children affected by Aids.

Johannesburg, one city, colliding worlds
Lindsay Bremner (STE Publishers, 2004)
Lindsay Bremner, professor of architecture at Wits University, wrote five essays for the Sunday Times in early 2002 for the Bessie Head Non-Fiction Fellowship Award (which she won), with the title ‘Contemporary Johannesburg: cultures, spaces, identities’. Now, two years later, they’re together in this quality publication (with French and German translations alongside), capturing, in her words, a particular moment in the city’s history, but still relevant to this dynamic city. Told in eloquent style, the essays give the reader a gritty look at the city in the 21st century.

All Under Heaven, the story of a Chinese family in South Africa
Darryl Accone (David Philip, 2004)
This is an absorbing tale of three generations of Chinese immigrants living in Johannesburg and Pretoria, told with compassion and enormous warmth. It recounts the difficulties faced in the gold mining town of the early 20th century and, later, in apartheid South Africa. The story moves between China and Johannesburg, and gives valuable insight into the story of one of the country’s minorities, as well as a different angle on the history of Johannesburg.

Johannesburg Style, Architecture and Society 1880s-1960s
Clive Chipkin (David Philip, 1993)
This excellent book by a reputable and knowledgeable architect traces the history of different architectural styles in Johannesburg in an engaging and very readable style. Filled with hundreds of black and white photographs and drawings, it provides an informative history of the city and its people, tracing the cycles of construction and demolition that mark the city’s growth from tent town to modern African city.

Gandhi’s Johannesburg, birthplace of Satyagraha
Eric Itzkin (Witwatersrand University Press, 2000)
This informative 100-page book follows Mahatma Gandhi’s journeys around Johannesburg at the turn of the century, and documents places where he stayed, worked and visited, his brushes with the law, his many friends and colleagues, his influence on fellow residents, and the incident that sparked off his Satyagraha or passive resistance policy. It’s full of black and white pictures and illustrations, bringing Gandhi alive and making it easy to follow his movements around the city.

Soweto
Peter Magubane (Struik, 2001)
Well-known photographer Peter Magubane has captured the many emotions of Soweto: anguish, happiness, tears, frustration, exhaustion, joy, elation. The book is jam-packed with his mostly colour photographs, with text by well-known journalist Charlene Smith. It makes for a compelling study of the township and its people, leaving the reader with a pretty accurate feel for what life in Soweto is like.

Bosman’s Johannesburg
Edited by Stephen Gray (Human & Rousseau, 1986)
One of Johannesburg’s most talented residents, Herman Charles Bosman, lived in the city in the 1940s and ‘50s. This is a collection of some of his short stories, in particular the ones that relate to the city. The collection offers three perspectives on Bosman’s Johannesburg. The first, a selection of seven stories, chronicles the “Voorkamer” stories in which Marico characters make their way to “Joh’burg”. The second perspective is a series of 11 essays on the experience of Johannesburg. The third section consists of three works: two incomplete drafts of longer stories, and a one-act play. It makes for absorbing reading and a different view of the city.

Early Johannesburg, its buildings and its people
Hannes Meiring (Human & Rousseau, 1985)
This well-researched book is full of wonderful drawings by the author. It starts with Randjeslaagte, the triangle of land on which the city started, and traces the development that occurred on the three large farms surrounding Randjeslaagte, the future city of Johannesburg. Every major building has its own paragraph, giving its history. The story is told in an engaging way, bringing to life the characters who built the early city. A useful Johannesburg reference book.