Another notch in the Michener belt.

Its been so long since my last entry I couldn't remember how to get to my blog. Finished another Michener novel last night: The Covenant, an epic tale of South Africa. This must be one of his longest novels; seemed like it took me forever to get through it. It was worth every minute. I always learn a lot from Michener. On a recent visit to Minneapolis, Steve and I visited The Mill City Museum. As we were waiting for the next tour up the Flour Tower, we were chatting with the guide about Cadwallader Colden Washburn, founding father of the Minneapolis Milling Company (a.k.a. General Mills). The guide mentioned Washburn's pioneering work in the livestock feed industry (using wheat byproducts for cattle feed vs. dumping it in the Mississippi River), and I commented that Michener talks about Washburn in Centennial. "Michener!", the guide exclaimed, "that's a long time ago!" As if reading Michener was passe or somehow out of fashion. I was a little offended. Good thing there was no one else around to listen to this guy blather about flour. Centennial was first published in 1974, which is not exactly "a long time ago". (This guide was no spring chicken.) I believe that Michener's novels will be, if they aren't already, hailed as timeless classics, in the company of Austin, Dickens and Hardy. Anyway, enough about that....

The Covenant was first published in 1980 when the battle to abolish apartheid was finally getting the world's attention. As customary for JM, the story begins at the beginning, when the indigenous animals ruled and the indigenous humans, wandering around in search of water and hunting grounds, were only small players in the grand game of survival. The story chronicles the lives of three influential families: the Nxumalos (don't ask me how to pronounce that) of Zimbabwe, the Van Doorns of Holland and the Saltwoods of England. Their histories date back 14 generations and nearly 5 centuries. No wonder my copy is over 1200 pages. These three families, crossing paths throughout history, shape South Africa for better and for worse. On a recent visit to Michigan, my Dad gave me a few copies of National Geographic. One of them just happened to be June, 2010 and when I had time to look through them when I got home I discovered this issue contained a feature entitled Mandela's Children: Redemption in South Africa. The timing couldn't have been better and this article provided an interesting "update" to the novel. Apartheid ended in 1994, but change lags far behind. Indigenous customs persist: Xhosa boys still practice ancient initiation rites, Caucasian Afrikaners still own 80% of commercial farmland even though Caucasians represent only a small portion of the total population and almost all "non-white" Afrikaners are farmers. SA has the highest GDP on the continent, yet maintains the greatest disparity between rich and poor. Unemployment among blacks is 29%, whites, 5%. Soccer and rugby are the new "gods" and their players are demigods. The people worship and pay tribute to these gods in spectacular stadiums that seat 94,000 spectators. That's 15 times the population of Maquoketa in one "cathedral".

Next on my reading list: The Help by Kathryn Stockett. Steve read it last winter and liked it so much he bought me a copy. I've heard lots of good things about it. Think I'll start it today.