In Search of a Better Life. A Story of Croatian Settlers in Southern Africa

Despite being published fairly recently (privately, 32 years ago, in a workmanlike production by Printpak, Cape Town), this book, which describes the history and lives of a tiny ethnic and cultural minority of South Africans, is rare. It remains interesting, however, not only for its stated purpose of opening a window on this small community but for the tapestry its early chapters paint of the constituent parts of the then Yugoslavia, which has in more recent years been broken up again. The first Croatians came to South Africa in the 1870s, mainly to work on diamond mines and, later, on goldmines.

The author has been able to source more than thirty interesting photographs, which, with several maps, are printed with the ix + 201 pp of text. The two-colour illustrated dustjacket, the black cloth-boards, gilt to the spine, the plain endpapers and the illustrated text, appendixes and index are all in very good condition, unmarked and undiscoloured.