Library Journal Review

Numerous books have been written on the history of the Zulu people in Africa; this memoir looks instead at present-day Zulus in the Isandlwana community in South Africa. In her first book, American author Batrus describes how she left her high-pressure Wall Street career path to relocate to Zululand and work for the WILD Foundation, helping the community become economically self-sufficient while preserving its culture and environment. As she struggles with common cross-cultural communication, gender, and societal issues, she helps plant the figurative seeds that will facilitate this rural community's economic growth. Comprising a collection of vignettes that show the author struggling to help the community, the book offers a look at a variety of different aspects of Zulu life, religion, and customs. It fails, however, to connect the reader with the author's personal struggles in this very foreign environment and touches only lightly on the unique aspects of Zulu life. Given its lack of depth, this book is appropriate only for larger collections.-Sheila Kasperek, Mansfield Univ. Lib., PA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.