Selections from the Smuts Papers

Volumes V, VI and VII complete the series of selections from the Smuts Papers. They cover the period from August 1919, when Smuts succeeded Botha as prime minister of the Union of South Africa, until his death in September 1950. The selection is divided into six parts, each with a short introduction. All the documents are annotated and those in Dutch or Afrikaans are provided with translations. There are over six hundred biographical notes. Smuts's stature as a world statesman, his intimate concern with the problems of European and Commonwealth politics and his central position in South African affairs place his private papers among the most important collections of their kind. The main contents of Volume VI (1934–1945) are perceptive letters on the strategy and course of the Second World War and on the inception of UNO - events in which Smuts took a leading part.