• No Longer Whispering to Power: The Story of Thuli Madonsela

    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 […]

     
  • History Matters: Selected Writings, 1970–2016

    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 […]

     
  • Hitler, Verwoerd, Mandela and Me: A Memoir of Sorts

    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 […]

     
  • Confronting the Corrupt: Accountability Now’s Battle Against Graft in SA

    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 […]

     
  • Academic Freedom in a Democratic South Africa: Essays and Interviews on Higher Education and the Humanities

    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 […]

     
  • Student, Comrade, Prisoner, Spy: A Memoir

    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 […]

     
  • God, Spies and Lies

    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 […]

     
  • Fordsburg Fighter

    Amin CAJEE as told to Terry Bell, Fordsburg Fighter: The Journey of an MK Volunteer (Face2Face, 2016).   ANC Youth League president Collen Maine recently called on Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) veterans to defend the […]