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An Economic History of South Africa: Conquest, Discrimination and Development.

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An Economic History of South Africa: Conquest, Discrimination and Development. Charles Feinstein. London: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 326 pp.

This book seeks to "... provide a broad overview of the character, transformation, initial growth, and final decline of South Africa's economy, and an interpretation of the major factors that explain these developments" (p. xviii). It does not contain original research, but rather aspires to be a synthesis of information already in existence. If I remember correctly, it was Harrison White who thanked his professional colleagues in the "Acknowledgments" section of his Identity and Control by stating that all ideas are already present in networks from which we borrow, thus legitimizing once again the important role of "synthesizers" in social science. Feinstein's synthesis is astonishing and of high quality, and the book's main arguments are skillfully argued.

The author first makes observations about South Africa's economy in an international context. Most notably, growth in South Africa appears to have been slow up to 1870; from 1870 to 1913, there was "... the early development of globalization," with expansion and prosperity throughout the world economy; from 1913 to 1950, the world economy fared poorly, though South Africa did well through the 1930s gold boom and during World War II; 1950 to 1973 was a "... 'golden age' of dynamic growth"; from 1973 to 1994, there was a general decline in economic performance, and South Africa shared in the "stagflation" (pp. 4, 7). It should be noted that there was quite extreme income inequality between whites and blacks during these periods.

"A strategy of conquest and disposition was pursued energetically by both Dutch and British settlers ..." (p. 34). White farmers, the British...

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