Sweden and National Liberation in Southern Africa by Tor Sellstrom (2 volume set).

Sweden and National Liberation in Southern Africa Volume 1: Formation of a Popular Opinion 1950-70 by Tor Sellstrom. 

Sweden and National Liberation in Southern Africa Volume 2: Solidarity and Assistance 1970-1994 by Tor Sellstrom. 

2 hardcover books published by Nordiska Afrikainstitutet 2003 and 2002.

Occasionally I’m shocked by some of the titles I find.  The obscurity of the subject matter of these volumes, particularly here in Australia, is mind boggling and bewildering.  If I was in Sweden or South Africa, I’d understand.  But I’m not in Sweden or South Africa, I’m in Australia.  Don’t get me wrong, the subject matter is important and interesting… but here in Australia we have our own issues on which many books are written about… and more particularly in relation to this blog… which sell.  What I’m trying to say is that books about South Africa’s troubled past are very difficult to sell here in Australia… at least that’s my experience... books about about our own troubled past (and present) are a little easier to sell.  So I looked long and hard at these books as I held them for consideration.  It’s a very specific subject matter, written in a scholarly/academic manner and obviously not written for the casual reader.  Australia is a long way from Sweden and South Africa which are a long way from each other.  The chance of selling these books here are very slim.  But still I figured they would be worth $$$ and once I’d checked the www this did prove to be correct.  So despite all my misgivings, I decided to take the plunge and I now own these hard to sell but worth $$$ books.  Now some of you may have noticed the subtitle of this blog “Books of interest and interesting books”.  I think these volumes are of interest and interesting… I guess this is what sparked my interest and eventual purchase.  These books do fit the Huc & Gabet criteria.  There is another Huc & Gabet criteria that they don’t fit… the “sold” criteria.