Doug Johnson writes, "When I visited a friend in Johannesburg, South Africa, two years ago, the first concern of her large Indian family, who had been subject to apartheid, was whether or not my family was of British descent.  Actually I'm part Dutch, which I thought would strike them as much worse, but it didn't. After all, the apartheid policy was written and imposed by the ruling Afrikaans against the wishes of the British Empire, and yet the British remain the most reviled people in the eyes of South Africans today, taking the rap for all things bad.  But why? 

"The answers, I will argue, are found in a fascinating write-up on The Boer Wars of 1881 & 1899-1902, that appeared in the iconic 1910 Encyclopedia Britannica 11th Edition--written forty eight years before the advent of apartheid. 

"This under-30-minute lecture will answer three questions: (1) What were the Boer Wars and how did they come about?; (2) What is the Encyclopedia Britannica 11th Edition, and how did it earn its reputation?; (3) How did the British end up taking the rap for all things bad in South Africa today?  If nothing else, in less than thirty minutes you'll likely know more about the Boer Wars than anyone you've ever met."

Mr. Johnson recommends that attendees watch the film Breaker Morant (1980) before attending this lecture.  Also recommended is Zulu (1964), starring Michael Caine.

J. Douglas Johnson graduated from Middlebury College in 1988 with a degree in English literature and economics. He designed Oracle database software in the financial and defense industries, and served as a research associate at the Economic Policy Institute before joining Surface Preparation Technologies, Inc., an international highway construction company, in 1992, where he worked for 20 years as director of marketing.  He is currently President of Brideshead, Inc., an information management company.   

Doug's polemics have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Asian Wall Street Journal, the Japan Times, the Far Eastern Economic Review, the Journal of Commerce, the Chicago Sun-Times, and the Chicago Tribune.