There is the high veld, the middle veld, the low veld, the bush veld, and now thoughts from the thorn veld,
Bongani NGQULUNGA, The Man Who Founded the ANC: A Biography of Pixley ka Isaka Seme (Cape Town: Penguin, 2017) THE title of this book is a little misleading. The significance of Pixley ka Isaka Seme’s […]
Jonathan ANCER, Spy: Uncovering Craig Williamson (Johannesburg: Jacana, 2017) HUNDREDS of apartheid-era operatives have quietly disappeared into the forgotten recesses of post-liberation South Africa. An exception is the much-reviled Craig Williamson: “I feel anger; seething […]
Albie SACHS, We, the People: Insights of an Activist Judge (Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2016) THE South African Constitution is a constant benign presence in this book, Albie Sachs’s anthology of writings and talks. It […]
Thandeka GQUBULE, No Longer Whispering to Power: The Story of Thuli Madonsela (Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball, 2017) Her whispering was so pronounced that Thuli Madonsela’s media appearances were often all but inaudible. This was in stark […]
Bill NASSON, History Matters: Selected Writings, 1970–2016 (Cape Town: Penguin, 2016) SOMETHING of a self-indulgence? Many might regard auto-anthology in such terms, but would surely excuse a writer of Bill Nasson’s exceptional quality. If the […]
Marianne THAMM, Hitler, Verwoerd, Mandela and Me: A Memoir of Sorts (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 2016) THE British newspaper The Guardian runs, alongside its conventional obituaries, a parallel series called ‘Other lives’. South African publishing of […]
Paul HOFFMAN, Confronting the Corrupt: Accountability Now’s Battle Against Graft in SA (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 2016) CADRE deployment is the key to the epidemic of corruption that has systematically eaten away at the fabric of […]
John HIGGINS, Academic Freedom in a Democratic South Africa: Essays and Interviews on Higher Education and the Humanities (Johannesburg: Wits University Press, 2013) THIS is an unusual book: title and sub-title could be reversed, yet […]
Bridget HILTON-BARBER, Student, Comrade, Prisoner, Spy: A Memoir (Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2016) WE are reminded by Timothy Garton Ash, journalist and academic expert on central Europe, that ‘the key to betrayal is trust’. And […]
John MATISSON, God, Spies and Lies: Finding South Africa’s Future Through its Past (Cape Town: Ideas for Africa in association with Missing Ink, 2015) THE essence of John Matisonn’s book lies in its sub-title. He […]