Rating: 
Summary: unusual and encompassing
Review: I chose "Covenant" because I wanted to read a James Michener's novel that was unlike anything else that I have read before. "Covenant" was very different, not in context but in quality. It follows a standard Michener's design: an epic from some thousand years B.C. to 1971 A.D.. The difference here is that Michener's passion for his characters is lacking. I felt no emotion while important characters were born, grew up, married, and died. It is not that the characters are so unappealing. On the contrary, they are very intriguing and daring. But by the time they are involved in a life-and-death struggle with forces of nature or other men, I did not care what happened to them. This should have been Mr. Michener's most passionate work. The title reflects it. Instead of calling the book "South Africa", the country about which he writes, he called it the "Covenant" reflecting the fact that each subsequent member of a nation who! want to colonize South Africa sees himself as Moses entering into the covenant with God. It is hard not to get emotional just thinking about it, but Mr. Michener surprised me by not involving emotion in his writing. By only affecting the readers' minds, not their hearts, James Michener makes the "Covenant" a beautiful but dispassionate narrative
Rating: 
Summary: One of Michener's best
Review: I first read The Covenant in 1982, being attracted to it by reading shortened extracts in the Reader's Digest. A fascinating and beautifully written novel, but what strikes me now is its prophetic nature. Who would have guessed in the early 80s that within 15 years South Africa would be a full democracy? Michener is a master storyteller. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Not the usual Mitchener standard.
Review: I read Cheseapake before I read this and I was enthralled at the way history was woven into a coherent saga that followed a few key families through time.But in Covenant Mitchener fails to maintain the coherence. At times the story breaks down completely and becomes a pure history book, or subjective narrative. He captures all the complexity of the situation in South Africa in the apartheid era, and if you know nothing of the political history it is a useful read, but in the end it is not a great novel.
Rating:
Summary: Sympathetic and detailed history
Review: I read this book in preparation for a trip to South Africa. There are of course several things to read to get a better feeling for this complex country, especially Mandela's autobiography--but this one I found particularly helpful in understanding the Afrikaans story. The original Dutch settlers were fierce and courageous people who banded together against a terrifying wilderness, ultimately cutting themselves off from their European roots altogether. All outsiders--European and African---were suspect. Religious fanaticism also played a role. I was startled to realize that aparteid in its starkest form was only a 1930-1940's development, and that the descendants of the Dutch were still traveling around the countryside in wagons in the 50's. Like a few other of Michener's books I've read, the historical parts are the best, and the modern is more like an historical narrative--but I recommend this book to anyone who wants a relatively painless way to get a deeper sense of the history than any guidebook.
Rating:
Summary: Far from his best
Review: In books like Chesapeake, Hawaii and Alaska, the pages just fly by. You get so drawn into the tale that you feel like the characters are real people that you know. It's entertainment first, education second. 'Covenant' does not live up to this standard. I found myself simply not caring about the characters, and just waiting (longing) for the end of each chapter. A lot of it is just dull. 'Covenant' is not as bad as 'Mexico' - that was a true shocker - but it is a long way from Michener at his best. Read it if you're a fan, but if you're looking to get into Michener choose another.
Rating:
Summary: fine novel of the history of South Africa, only minor flaws
Review: In _Covenant_ Michener takes us to a society that has always been more complex than many would like to believe: southern Africa. I truly felt better educated after reading it. It is important to note (in case you're not very familiar with Michener) that it was written during the latter days of apartheid, when it was looking shaky but not yet tottering. Michener's efforts to see the unfolding South African history through many different sets of eyes (of multiple colours) remind us that it is not only South African blacks who have many cultures, but whites also: French, Dutch, English and Germans all took root. The book does not minimize the historical origins and impacts of segregationism, but it has the breadth to see that not every European has always supported the apartheid system. We see that some have bucked it, and paid the price. A weakness, in my view, was the lack of much real cultural depth on the widely varied African tribes. On two or three, we get depth; on the rest, little. The other is debatable, not really a weakness but a caveat to the reader: there are major events depicted in the book (such as the Mfecane, a sort of mass self-destructive movement supposedly sweeping through the tribes and depopulating them) that are now asserted not to have occurred. Certainly, when Michener wrote, whites were telling most of the history; however, by itself that does not validate or invalidate any of the history--it simply means it's open to question and should be investigated further. In that light, before allowing Michener's take on major events to plant itself as definite historical truth, one should take care to seek multiple viewpoints and deeper evidence than what is presented in this novel. Recommended to Michener fans, those interested in South African history, and those desiring to see how religion can shape the very core of a society.
Rating:
Summary: Michener - the consummate "citizen of the world"
Review: It isn't easy to sum up the South African story in a few pages. As a South African I've had to suffer an endless litany of populist garbage published on the back of my country's "flashpoint" status since the 1990s. It's even harder for an outsider to fully fathom the bitter legacy which drove the two great tribes of southern Africa on a path towards war and reconciliation. But Michener, the consummate "citizen of the World", has again hit the nail on the head. Michener has an unerring feel for the birth of nations. He proved it first in "Hawaii" but, for me, "The Covenenant" is his greatest accomplishment. The story of the pioneering Afrikaners and their clash with the proud Zulu empire ranks as one of the all-time great "historical bookmarks" - and there's no one better to tell the tale. I'm glad you came along, Mr Michener.
Rating:
Summary: Worth every word
Review: It takes a while to get into the novel, but it is amazingly worth it. Like every Michener novel I've read, this could double as required reading in Literature class or as a history textbook. All this and an engrossing narative. Worth every star.
Rating:
Summary: History of Cultural Conflict
Review: James Michener built his reputation as a writer with his histories of contested lands: Israel (<strong><em>The Source</em></strong>), Korea (<strong><em>The Bridges at Toko-Ri</em></strong>), <strong><em>Hawaii</em></strong>, <strong><em>Mexico</em></strong>, <strong><em>Poland</em></strong>, Afghanistan (<strong><em>Caravans</em></strong>), and so on. By examining the land <em>from the first</em>—often before men had even come into the country—he was able to bring a perspective to these conflicts. By writing history as fiction, he communicates these perspectives in a very accessible way.
<strong><em>The Covenant</em></strong> is Michener's novel of South Africa, from the time when only the nomadic San peoples (later called "Bushmen") lived there; to the coming of the Zulu tribes from the north at the same time as Dutch Huegenots settled at the southern tip of the continent; the arrival of the British colonial settlers; the passive rebellion of the Boers (<em>Voertrekkers</em> who left their rich colonial coast farms for the stony inner provinces) and their active rebellion (the Boer War, which the British nominally won); the <em>slim</em> (clever) way in which the former Boer general Oom Paul Kruger and his staff managed to wrest victory from that defeat, imposing <em>apartheid</em> on the nation; and the multicultural society that developed in the 80s when the fence between <em>blanks</em> (whites) and <em>nie-blanks</em> (non-whites) was finally broken.
So in <strong><em>The Covenant</em></strong>, we meet the San and learn their depth of understanding of this land and its animals; this is <strong>their</strong> land by virtue of their command of its powers. We understand the Boer with his forthright assumption of the covenant of Adam and Moses; this is <strong>his</strong> land by virtue of his willingness to invest the sweat of his brow in it. We comprehend the Zulu tribes and their drive south to acquire grazing for their cattle; it is <strong>their</strong> land by virtue of their blood and the blood of their children shed for it. We even learn some of the motivations for British colonialism and the savage investment English-speaking settlers made in the Boer War; for these people, "British" is what their grandfather was—what they are is South African, and this is <strong>their</strong> land, too.
We know this story too well to assume that Michener's happy people, multi-culturally mixing, will be the end of this tale. But novels must have an ending, a climax and resolution, to their conflicts, and Michener's teams of writers managed to achieve it in book after book. By investing in this research, James Michener brought their biases, perspectives, local knowledge and flavor to each novel. Where Michener excelled was in weaving together these disparate views and stories to create a solid, balanced and in-depth experience of the land in dispute.
Where South Africa will go in the 21st century is unknown—Michener has given us a richly nuanced look at where this troubled country and its conflicted cultures have been.
Rating:
Summary: Truth is stranger than fiction
Review: Now I'm not saying that all of what Michener prints is truth, but the twists and turns in this book were stupendous. Like 'Texas', you could tear any 100 pages out of the book and it'd make for a great read. I have to admit, the book really made me want to visit South Africa sometime.
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