Chase Your Shadow: The Trials of Oscar Pistorius - Softcover

Carlin, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1782393293 ISBN 13: 9781782393290

Publisher: Atlantic Books, 2014

Synopsis

In Chase Your Shadow, journalist and author John Carlin tells the gripping story of Oscar Pistorius's tragic journey from sporting icon to accused murderer. Before Valentine's Day of 2013, Pistorius was best known as an extraordinary athlete, the 'Blade Runner' who became the first amputee in history to compete in the Olympics. Everything changed after he shot his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp dead in the early hours of 14 February. Overnight, the Olympian's status as a role model was replaced by tales of erratic behaviour and a violent dark side. With unique access to Pistorius himself, as well as to his friends and family, Carlin paints a portrait of a complex personality, a man whose heroic rise and even more dramatic fall is one of the most remarkable sports stories ever told.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

In 2012, Oscar Pistorius became the first amputee runner in history to compete in the Olympics, and was hailed as a hero not only in his native South Africa but around the world. But everything changed for Pistorius in the early morning hours of February 14, 2013—Valentine's Day—when he shot and killed his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp. He was arrested and convicted for culpable homicide in a seven-month murder trial broadcast from Johannesburg to an international audience.

Acclaimed journalist John Carlin details the wrenching emotional breakdowns and merciless interrogation of the accused and the courtroom confrontation between a white, privileged, twenty-seven-year-old male athlete on trial for murder, and the black female judge who alone would decide his fate—held in a democratic country trying to exorcise its history of racial hatred and endemic violence against women—exposes the complex social and political realities of post-Apartheid South Africa.

About the Author:

John Carlin grew up in Argentina and in the UK and spent 1989-95 in South Africa as the Independent's correspondent there. He has also lived in Spain, Nicaragua, Mexico and Washington, writing for The Times, the Observer, the Sunday Times, the New York Times, among other papers, and working for the BBC. His previous books include, Playing the Enemy (2008), the basis of the film Invictus, directed by Clint Eastwood, which earned Oscar nominations for both Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman, and Knowing Mandela (2013).

About this edition

• Publisher: Atlantic Books
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1782393293
• ISBN 13: 9781782393290
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400