The Real Kruger and the Transvaal

# Museum Catalog Note

This 1900 Street & Smith publication comprises three sections addressing the Second Boer War. "Paul Kruger: His Life Story" by Fred A. McKenzie offers a biographical portrait of the Transvaal president and his austere lifestyle, emphasizing his limited formal education, patriarchal authority, and isolation from modern civilization. The narrative describes Kruger's daily routine—morning receptions with burghers, parliamentary attendance, governmental decisions, and simple domestic habits featuring coffee, mutton, and Biblical study. McKenzie presents Kruger as an autocratic but effective administrator wielding considerable influence over the Volksraad through personality and threat of resignation. The second section, "The Transvaal Boer Speaking for Himself" by M. J. Du Plessis, provides the Boer perspective on the conflict. The final section, "A Brief History of the Transvaal Republic," supplies historical context. The editors explicitly attempt balanced presentation of both British and Boer arguments regarding the war's causes.