Browsing All Posts filed under »Book Reviews«

A failed attempt in need of a good editor

January 6, 2011

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156 Hands that built South Africa — the 1956 Treason Trial by Phyllis Naidoo (self published) (First published:  September, 2006) One of the critical events in the history of the anti-apartheid struggle was the treason trial of 156 men and women which began in Johannesburg’s old Drill Hall in December 1956.  It was, and remains, […]

Gaining an insight into George Soros

January 6, 2011

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George Soros is a household name associated mainly with philanthropy, but also for his advocacy for “open societies”. This, his ninth book, probably stands in place of an authobiography; it is by turns interesting and annoying, but provides considerable insight into a eccentric whose concerns are widely shared, even if his notions about the way forward may not be.

The history of an exceptional newspaper

December 8, 2010

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The Guardian — The History of South Africa’s Extraordinary Anti-Apartheid Newspaper. By James Zug (Michigan State University Press/UNISA Press) (First published, May 2009) The Guardian, a polemical newspaper that survived three bannings and subsequent name changes and was once charged, alongside 156 individuals, with treason, is part of the anti-apartheid folk lore of South Africa. […]

South Africa in Africa: The post-apartheid era

December 8, 2010

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edited by Adekeye Adebajo, Adebayo Adedeji and Chris Landsberg (University of KZN Press) (First published, June 2008) This excellent volume does not deal with the prospects of a post-Mbeki presidency or with any of the possible fallout from the internecine feuding within the ANC. And this should not matter, for no matter the outcome now […]

Ramaphosa: an enigma continua

December 2, 2010

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Cyril Ramaphosa, lawyer, trade unionist, politician and businessman, remains one of the most popular figures on the South African political scene. Yet his deeper beliefs and opinions remain hidden. The author of this biography, which Ramaphosa made clear he did not want written, does provide some excellent insights, but the subject remains an enigma.

Threads of incongruous tangle

November 30, 2010

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Truth is a strange fruit; A personal journey through the apartheid war By David Beresford (Jacana ) Review: Terry Bell (First published September 26, 2010) The publishers defined this book as “a personal journey through the apartheid war”. With rather more accuracy, the author describes it in his introduction as a montage or collage. However, […]

Giving meaning to the bawdy bard

November 30, 2010

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Filthy Shakespeare by Pauline Kiernan (Quercus) Review: Terry Bell (First published 06/2008) Like countless students before and since, I struggled, at school, to come to terms with the language of Shakespeare. Not the plotting or the action; just the words. Outside of Julius Caesar. In much the same way I never understood why we should […]