"Washed with Sun is an aggressive assertion of the power of place. It locates the formation of South African national character in a sophisticated analysis of the materiality of terrain and the appropriation of landscape to render mnemonic inscapes. This study of the making of an imagined community demonstrates that while the emergence of a putative white South African identity was not remarkable, the imaginative processes choreographed to achieve it were."-- "Brian S. Osborne, Queen's University"
[An] excellent study . . . detailed, descriptive and solidly historical, bound to remain the seminal study on the subject for some time.-- "Journal of Southern African Studies"
An important work: intellectually based, visually stunning and lucidly written. It should be consulted by all those who study South Africa.-- "Journal of Modern African Studies"
Beautifully written and sumptuously illustrated . . . This nuanced analysis (so much more than 'mere' deconstruction) of texts, images and landscapes against the backdrop of place, space and imperial visions is also a visually rich and most enjoyable read.-- "The Geographical Journal"
Foster is illuminating on the connections between landscape, aesthetics, and white South African colonial consciousness. This subtly argued, innovative, and theoretically sophisticated study of space and place skillfully articulates issues of common interest to cultural geographers, historians, and art historians.-- "Saul Dubow, University of Sussex"
I recommend [Foster's] book . . . to anyone seeking to understand the complex, mutually constitutive interplay between land and Land.-- "Journal of Regional Science"
Intelligent, appealing, and engaging. This well-written and richly illustrated work offers a sophisticated model for interpretation of identity and landscape. Indispensable for students of South Africa, and most useful for scholars of the cultural landscape. Essential.-- "Choice"
One of the accomplishments of Foster's smart and thoughtful book is that it satisfies readers' desires to understand the historical roots of apartheid. . . . Foster's second and ultimately more important accomplishment is to make a case for the value of studying, as he does here, the corporeal, material nature of landscape experience and comprehension.-- "Buildings & Landscapes"
The strengths of the book lie at the points in which perceptual practice and historical positioning coincide. In this, Foster does not so much collapse the distinction between 'land' and 'scape, ' but like the best sort of geography, communicates between the space of the body and the time of culture.-- "Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies"