Members might be interested in a new book, called MOOROSI: A South African king's battle for survival that I have written and which has just been published. It tells the detailed story of a little-known, but intriguing, war that took place in southern Lesotho (then Basutoland) in 1879 between the Cape Colony and the BaPhuthi people, led by King Moorosi. The war was followed by the Basotho War, or the Gun War, which began a year later. MOOROSI also includes descriptions of other wars that took place on the Eastern Cape border of the Cape Colony in 1877 and 1878.

The book describes how the Moorosi war arose from conflict between the Cape Colony and the BaPhuthi people, leading to the siege of Mount Moorosi, a flat-topped mountain fortress surrounded by steep cliffs on three sides. The accessible fourth side was fortified with stone walls and guarded by the heavily-armed BaPhuthi people, who built a village on the mountaintop. The assault on Mount Moorosi presented a challenge in military strategy to the colonial forces who found it more formidable than they had ever thought it would be. Three colonial soldiers won the Victoria Cross for their actions during the war; how they won them is told in detail in the book.

Although the book is categorized as historical fiction, almost all the story is true and represents the results of seven years of research during which I consulted rare books and government documents from the time of the war, spent many hours in archives in South Africa and Lesotho, and visited the historical sites around which the action takes place.

I was born and raised in South Africa. My interest in cultural conflict, colonial Africa and the Moorosi battle in particular began when I traveled through Lesotho on horseback in my early 20s and when I subsequently worked as a journalist at several South African newspapers and news magazines, covering cultural conflict in Southern Africa during the apartheid years.

While studying as a journalism student at Columbia University in the mid-60s, I not only wrote a thesis on cultural conflict but also attended lectures and wrote papers relating to the Vietnam War, which directly affected many of my fellow students. After moving to the United States in 1980, I studied conflict around the world, including the two wars in which the United States has recently been involved, while working as a journalist in the Seattle area.

I believe MOOROSI is an excellent case study in war, mirroring many of the issues that we see in today's conflicts around the world.

The book is accompanied by pictures illustrating the events before and during the war. Please see: http://www.moorosi.com

MOOROSI is listed on the amazon website at: http://www.amazon.co...351655372&sr=8- where it is available in print and Kindle editions.