The Covenant: A Novel [Paperback]

James A. Michener’s masterly chronicle of South Africa is an epic tale of adventurers, scoundrels, and ministers, the best and worst of two continents who carve an empire out of a vast wilderness. From the Java-born Van Doorn family tree springs two great branches: one nurtures lush vineyards, the other settles the interior to become the first Trekboers and Afrikaners. The Nxumalos, inhabitants of a peaceful village unchanged for centuries, unite warrior tribes into the powerful Zulu nation. And the wealthy Saltwoods are missionaries and settlers who join the masses to influence the wars and politics that ravage a nation. Rivalries and passions spill across the land ofThe Covenant,a story of courage and heroism, love and loyalty, and cruelty and betrayal, as generations fight to forge a new world.
 
Praise forThe Covenant
 
“A prodigious endeavor . . . Nowhere else could an American reader unfamiliar with South Africa get so full an understanding of its problems in so engaging a form.”—The New York Times Book Review“A prodigious endeavor . . . Nowhere else could an American reader unfamiliar with South Africa get so full an understanding of its problems in so engaging a form.”—The New York Times Book ReviewJames A. Michenerwas one of the world’s most popular writers, the author of more than forty books of fiction and nonfiction, including the Pulitzer Prize–winningTales of the South Pacific,the bestselling novelsThe Source, Hawaii, Alaska, Chesapeake, Centennial, Texas, Caribbean,andCaravans,and the memoirThe World Is My Home. Michener served on the advisory council to NASA and the International Broadcast Board, which oversees the Voice of America. Among dozens of awards and honors, he received America’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1977, and an award from l³’