Jan Smuts did not belong to any single state or nation. He fought for his own country, he thought for the whole world.’ Winston Churchill, House of Commons, 26 June 1952 In this new biography, Professor Antony Lentin reassesses the life of one of South Africa’s great leaders. Smuts was scholar, statesman and soldier with a career spanning half a century, but what was his lasting contribution? In the earlier half of his life, he focused his efforts primarily on the birth pangs and development of South Africa: the Boer Wars, the formation of the Union of South Africa, and South Africa’s role in the First World War.