The Mind of South Africa: The Rise and Fall of Apartheid - Softcover

Sparks, Allister

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0345371194 ISBN 13: 9780345371195

Publisher: Ballantine Books, 1991

Synopsis

South Africa is one of the most complex and troubled nations on earth. It is the only country whose divisions are legally endorsed, whose isolation is deliberate and whose internal biases are so pointedly lopsided. The Mind of South Africa is a unique survey which encompasses the history, culture and the warped mythology of apartheid by which the country is still held hostage. Allister Sparks, distinguished former editor of the Rand Daily Mail, recounts the full story of South Africa's agonizing drama - and, amazingly, remains an optimist about its future.

About this title

About the Author:

Allister Sparks was born and educated in South Africa. He was editor of the Rand Daily Mail from 1977 to 1981, South Africa correspondent for The Economist for twenty-three years, and is now correspondent for the Washington Post, the Observer and Holland's leading newspaper, the NRC Handelsblad. He was named International Editor of the Year in 1979 and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting of racial unrest in South Africa in 1985.

From Publishers Weekly:

Former editor of the Johannesburg Rand Daily Mail , and now a correspondent for U.S. and U.K. newspapers, Sparks here writes one of the most sensitive and best balanced histories of relationships among South Africa's Dutch, English, Indian and indigenous peoples. In this hopeful assessment of the transition period, he points out that "no ideology on earth, no politician, no guns, no army, no regional superpower strategy" can stem the "blackening" of South Africa, as the country at last begins to move out of its "capsule of illusion." Although industrialization and urbanization render apartheid ideology unworkable, only political action can shift South Africa to a pan-tribal, nonracial, mixed economy and society, stresses Sparks. There will be no revolutionary transfer of power; instead, there will be an incremental process, with whites yielding ground reluctantly, inch by inch, trench by trench.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Ballantine Books
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0345371194
• ISBN 13: 9780345371195
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 428