Running to Maputo

An anti-apartheid activist, horribly maimed in an assassination attempt, gives a deeply moving account of his long struggle to survive and to heal--physically and psychically

A member of the African National Congress forced into exile in 1966, white South African lawyer Sachs lost his right arm and sustained other severe injuries when his car was bombed, presumably on South African government orders, in Mozambique in 1988. In this emotional but well-balanced present-tense account of his fight for survival and rehabilitation, he writes of his pain and determination, of his need for love, mothering and independence, of his friends and colleagues in the struggle against apartheid. He was en route to run on the beach at Maputo when the bombing took place, and at the end of this inspiring, triumphant book, he resumes his run and looks forward to living in a free, humane, peaceful South Africa.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

In 1988 a car bomb in Maputo shattered the body of white South African anti-apartheid activist Sachs, leaving him half-blind, half-deaf, and with a destroyed right arm. This story is of his return to physical independence in a British hospital and of how his life finally came full circle, finding him running again on the beach at Maputo, triumphant but still in danger because of his views. Sach's soul healed before his body, and for the man who injured him he wishes a fair trial, but he first would like to sit and talk dispassionately with him about their differing views. Well written and inspirational, this book will have appeal in public libraries.
- Louise Leonard, Univ. of Florida Lib., Gainesville
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.