A Book Review of Motlatsi Thabane’s Book, Moshoeshoe in His Own Word

Moshoeshoe in His own Words is a very important scholarly contribution that provides insights about King Moshoeshoe based on his words and on the texts produced by those who have studied the character and attributes of Moshoeshoe or had a chance to reflect on these issues. The book is a collection of a variety of texts that reflect that thinking and character of King Moshoeshoe. The texts can be divided into three categories. One group is that of documents that describes the belief systems of people who had influence on Moshoeshoe and the influence of such personalities on Moshoeshoe. Then, there are texts produced by Moshoeshoe’s contemporaries. These texts provide readers with the understanding of Moshoeshoe’s actions, decisions and the thoughts and ideas that influenced those decisions. The third group of texts contains those attributed to Moshoeshoe, including excerpts from written documents such as letters.