The author H. Rider Haggard is today best remembered for classics of the action-adventure genre such as She and King Solomon's Mines. But these masterworks of "lost world" fiction had their roots in Haggard's real-life experiences in what is now known as South Africa, where he lived for a time as a young man. In this nonfiction account of the brutal conflict that gripped the region in the late 19th century, Haggard explores the causes and long-term impacts of the Boer wars.