Informative and portable, this guide offers a brief yet lively introduction to the life and reign of Shaka Zulu, the most influential leader of South Africa's Zulu Kingdom. As it challenges the previous historiography of the early king, this account reassesses the white resources and delves into a large body of previously-neglected Zulu historical records. Revealing a complex, tough leader--who was neither illegitimate nor sexually deviant, neither mass murderer nor seamlessly successful military genius--this handbook sheds light on the existing myths surrounding Shaka and reconsiders his place in South African history.

We all picture Shaka as a lean, mean, assegai-wielding warrior-king, the military genius who founded the Zulu nation. In fact, we don't actually know when he was born, what he looked like, or exactly when he died. Almost every other story you've heard is probably either wrong or contested. This biography draws on the last two decades of historical research to reassess the eyewitness accounts and use newly available oral traditions. The picture that emerges is astonishingly different from the popular stereotype.