Botswana

Botswana's rapid transition between 1965 and 2016 from one of the poorest countries in the world to one rated as middle income has been extraordinary. Fifty years of change has seen the widespread disappearance of coal-fired locomotives and popularly used passenger trains, and ox drawn wagons. Blacksmiths, paraffin lamps, rondavels and thatched buildings, lime, women carrying buckets of water, metal water tanks have gone. The list goes on: the displacement of the round by the rectangular, migrant labour, hand cranked telephones and party lines, older men in army great coats, school children with bare feet, guttering and down pipes, granaries, the decoration of the lelapa, indigenous foodstuffs, the sub-language fanagalo, the crafts made for domestic needs. Yet more: changes in clothing, housing, property and vehicle ownership, means of entertainment, untarred main roads, do it yourself housing and in many places, general stores. The majority of the photos selected are of people. This is deliberate. It means that this book has no photographs that are routinely included in other books - the country's marvellous wilderness and wildlife, the Okavango and the Kgalagadi, the sand dunes and places of great natural beauty.

'This is the kind of book I had long been looking for - a book that really shows the daily life of Batswana as it was in the time from Independence up into the 20th century. All of the photographs are in black and white [in the paperback edition], but they are well chosen, high quality pictures. Most were taken in the early part of the stated time range, and the book formats one photo per page with explanatory captions. Sandy Grant lived for a long time in the Mochudi area, so there are a hundred pages of pictures of Mochudi and its culture. There are also 200 other pages with photos sampled from many other rural villages as well as the larger villages and town. I'm happy to recommend this collection'. Review from barnesandnoble.com.

Sandy Grant lives in Botswana with his wife, Elinah, and two sons in Odi, a village midway between Mochudi and Gaborone. He is a Botswana citizen and holder of a Presidential Honour award. Born in the UK, he graduated BA, MA in History from the University of Cambridge and an MSc in the Conservation of the Built Environment from Herriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. Apart from his involvement with heritage and humanitarian programmes, he has been a long standing newspaper columnist for Mmegi; a part time lecturer at the University of Botswana and at Limkokwing (Gaborone), where he pioneered a new course on the history of building in Botswana; a Commissioner of the Independent Elections Commission (1997-2005); past Chairman of the Botswana Society; and an Independent Parliamentary candidate (1984).