The Washing of the Spears: A History of the Rise of the Zulu Nation Under Shaka and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879

by Donald R. Morris, Mangosuthu Buthelezi (Introduction)

Filled with colorful characters, dramatic battles like Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift, and an inexorable narrative momentum, this unsurpassed history details the sixty-year existence of the world's mightiest African empire; from its brutal formation and zenith under the military genius Shaka , through its inevitable collision with white expansionism, to its dissolution under Cetshwayo in the Zulu War of 1879.

Genres: History, Africa, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, Military History, War, World History

655 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Born 11 November, 1924, to S. Fred and Vera D. Morris of New York City. Graduated Horace Mann School for Boys, 1942 and US Naval Academy, 1948. Active naval service from 1942 until 1956; retired as Lieutenant Commander. CIA field officer in Soviet counterespionage from 1956 until 1972 in Berlin, Paris, Kinshasa and Vietnam. Houston resident since 1972; Houston Post foreign affairs columnist from 1972 until 1989, publisher of Donald R. Morris Newsletter from 1989.

Novelist (China Station, Warm Bodies.) and historian (The Washing of the Spears). In addition to two novels, he wrote columns and articles for the Houston Post, Atlantic Monthly, American Heritage, Proceedings, and the Encyclopedia Britannica, among others. Passed away due to complications from heart disease.