author
R. D. (Roelof Daniel) Mc Donald
1873–1949
A South African writer and veteran of the Anglo-Boer War, he is best known for co-authoring a firsthand account of the conflict that brings the hardships and perspective of the Boer side vividly to life. His surviving public record is sparse, which gives his work an added sense of rarity and historical immediacy.
1 Audiobook
In the Shadow of Death
by P. H. (Pieter Hendrick) Kritzinger, R. D. (Roelof Daniel) Mc Donald
About the author
Born in 1873, Roelof Daniel Mc Donald was a South African author remembered today mainly for In the Shadow of Death, written with General P. H. Kritzinger. The book is a personal account of the Anglo-Boer War and is the work most consistently linked to his name in major public-domain catalogs.
Available records suggest he was born in the Bethulie district and died in 1949. Some South African biographical material also indicates that he studied at Wellington and later completed an admission course at Stellenbosch in 1897, though detailed information about his wider life and career is limited in easily accessible sources.
What stands out most clearly is the kind of book he left behind: a wartime narrative grounded in lived experience. For listeners interested in memoir, military history, or South African history, his writing offers a direct window into a turbulent period rather than a polished legend built up after the fact.