First published 1974
In "The Vietnam Project," a mythographer for the U.S. government meticulously crafts psychological warfare tactics to crush the Vietnamese. Across the colonial divide, "The Narrative of Jacobus Coetzee" recounts a Boer settler's ruthless elephant hunt and violent encounter with indigenous Africans. These two gripping novellas, linked by themes of conquest and complicity, lay bare the human cost of imperialism.
Genres: literary-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, african-literature
Vibes: dark, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, unreliable-narrator
Setting: South Africa, Vietnam, the United States
Period: 1760s, 1970s
Paperback · Penguin Books
Content warnings: colonialism, violence