The Washing Of The Spears by Donald R. Morris

I decided to share my library beginning with the first African history book I purchased. The Washing of the Spears is considered a comprehensive source about the rise of the Zulu nation and its subsequent defeat by the British. I purchased this book because in its original form Meji was to be a Zulu based story. At the time the Zulu were the only nation in Africa I could find any substantial research on. As I developed the story it began to resemble Shaka Zulu too much for my taste so I set it aside. I’m glad I did because later I discovered more sources of African history that expanded my knowledge and enhanced the story.

Washing is a detailed account of the Zulu nation, but it is also filled with misconceptions of African origins and tainted with veiled prejudice. The ‘Hammite’ theory is used to explain the difference between the Bantu and other East Africans. If you haven’t heard of the ‘Hammite’ theory look it up. It’s been been discredited but for time it was used by many historians to explain the ‘uncharacteristic’ behavior of East African people. There’s also terms that raise an eyebrow, such as the Zulu chief, or inkosi, ‘mating’ with his concubines.

One of the main strengths of Washing is its detailed account of Zulu military organization. I relied heavily on it for this information and on Zulu battle tactics. It’s a good place to start and provides good overall information. I won’t say it’s a must read unless you’re gathering information on Zulu history, especially pertaining to their encounters with the British and the Boers.

Sword and Soul | Milton January 11, 2010

4 Comments to “The Washing Of The Spears by Donald R. Morris”

By Melvin Carter, January 11, 2010 @ 11:11 pm

I do remember the book. I found it in the library a week after seeing on television the Martini-Henry vs assagai epic Zulu starring Stanley Baker and a very young Michael Caine. The question of the Zulus conservative military tactics in the face of their coming into contact with mounted and firearm bearing foes -don’t fix what worked for our fathers seems to be a curse that has trapped military elites into eventual defeats worldwide. The author probably considered himself liberal or at least not condescending in saying the east African societies had a leg up on their western and central brethren, butthat seems to be a hangover from the time of the ancient Greeks Homer and Herodotus only knowing of the world of the Nile river civilizations of Upper Egypt, Meroe, and Ethiopia.
By Roxane, January 12, 2010 @ 12:53 pm

Hey Milton! Just dropping to say hello and tell you that I’m now following your blog! Great review. Looking forward to reading more of what you’ve got to say!
By Milton, January 12, 2010 @ 2:52 pm

Merci beacoup, Roxane! I hope things are going well for you.
By Ronald T. Jones, January 12, 2010 @ 5:59 pm

I read Washing of the Spears a long time ago. Over the years, I lost track of the book. This Hamite theory needed to be discredited. It was nothing but a racist labeling effort by Europeans to define certain Africans as caucasion. What was paradoxical is that many of the Africans so categorized were indistinguishable from the Africans European scholars pegged as bantu or-and here’s another questionable term-True Negro.

Heck, I can’t tell a Hutu from a Tutsi. Yet the latter was considered hamitic.