John Laband

John Paul Clow Laband (18 March 1947 – 5 August 2025) was a South African historian and writer, specialising in Anglo-Zulu and the First and Second Freedom Wars (Afrikaans: Eerste- en Tweede Vryheidsoorlog). He taught at universities in South Africa, England, and Canada. In particular, he was Professor of History at Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada, and a Research Associate of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Laband published many books about the military history of Southern Africa and the history of the Zulu nation and the Anglo-Zulu war of 1879 in particular. He was most lately Professor Emeritus at Wilfrid Laurier University, and was made a Life Member of Clare Hall, Cambridge University, England.

Laband died on 5 August 2025, at the age of 78.

• Fight Us in the Open; The Anglo-Zulu War Through Zulu Eyes, Pietermaritzburg, 1985
• Kingdom in Crisis: The Zulu Response to the British Invasion of 1879, 1992
• Isandlwana, KwaZulu Monuments Council series, 1992
• Lord Chelmsford's Zululand Campaign 1878–1879, Army Records Society, 1994
• Rope of Sand: The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Kingdom in the Nineteenth Century, 1995, Jonathan Ball Publishers SA, ISBN 9781868420230
• The Illustrated Guide to the Anglo-Zulu War, 2000, with Paul Thompson, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, ISBN 9781869140557
• The Atlas of the Later Zulu Wars, 1883–1888, 2001, University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, ISBN 9780869809983
• The Transvaal Rebellion: The First Boer War 1880–1881, Taylor & Francis Ltd, ISBN 9781138154209
• The Battle of Majuba Hill: The Transvaal Campaign, 1880–1881, Helion & Company, ISBN 9781911512387
• Daily Lives Of Civilians in Wartime Africa, 2007, ISBN 9780313335402
• Historical Dictionary of the Zulu Wars, Scarecrow Press, ISBN 9780810860780
• Zulu Warriors: The Battle for the South African Frontier, Yale University Press, ISBN 9780300209198
• The assassination of King Shaka, Jonathan Ball Publishers SA, ISBN 9781868428076
• Zulu Identities: Being Zulu, Past and Present, with Benedict Carton and Jabulani Sithole, C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd, ISBN 9781850659082
• The eight Zulu kings: From Shaka to Goodwill Zwelithini, Jonathan Ball Publishers SA, ISBN 9781868428380
• The Fall of Rorke's Drift: An Alternate History of the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879, Greenhill Books, ISBN 9781784383732
• Bringers of War, Pen & Sword Books Ltd, ISBN 9781848326583
• The A to Z of the Zulu Wars, Scarecrow Press, ISBN 9780810876316
• with Timothy J. Stapleton, Encyclopedia of African Colonial Conflicts, 2 volumes, ABC-CLIO, Santa Barbara, California, 2016