the rioting black youths of Soweto outside Johannesburg. The Re- public's future as a locus of Western investment, a friendly mili- tary power, and prosperous citadel of white supremacy is again a matter of scholarly speculation and much debate. Our Back- ground Books cover the entire area of Southern Africa. Our essayists focus on South Africa. Historian Lewis H. Gann ex-amines the peculiar white experience which has so strongly shaped Pretoria's politics. Political scientist Gwendolen Carter reviews...