From the early days of independence in Ghana to the ongoing ethnic genocide in Rwanda, Kapuscinski has crisscrossed vast distances pursuing the swift, and often violent, events that followed liberation. Kapuscinski hitchhikes with caravans, wanders the Sahara with nomads, and lives in the poverty-stricken slums of Nigeria. He wrestles a king cobra to the death and suffers through a bout of malaria. What emerges is an extraordinary depiction of Africa--not as a group of nations or geographic locations--but as a vibrant and frequently joyous montage of peoples, cultures, and encounters. Kapuscinski's trenchant observations, wry analysis and overwhelming humanity paint a remarkable portrait of the continent and its people. His unorthodox approach and profound respect for the people he meets challenge conventional understandings of the modern problems faced by Africa at the dawn of the twenty-first century.

    Over the next three months, 800,000 Tutsis were murdered in the most unambiguous case of genocide since Hitler's war against the Jews. Philip Gourevitch's haunting work is an anatomy of the killings in Rwanda, a vivid history of the genocide's background, and an unforgettable account of what it means to survive in its aftermath.

    She traveled alone across the dangerous Somali desert to Mogadishu — the first leg of a remarkable journey that would take her to London, where she worked as a house servant; then to nearly every corner of the globe as an internationally renowned fashion model; and ultimately to New York City, where she became a human rights ambassador for the U.N. Desert Flower is her extraordinary story.

    Carrying out a genocidal plundering of the Congo, he looted its rubber, brutalized its people, and ultimately slashed its population by ten million--all the while shrewdly cultivating his reputation as a great humanitarian. Heroic efforts to expose these crimes eventually led to the first great human rights movement of the twentieth century, in which everyone from Mark Twain to the Archbishop of Canterbury participated. King Leopold's Ghost is the haunting account of a megalomaniac of monstrous proportions, a man as cunning, charming, and cruel as any of the great Shakespearean villains. It is also the deeply moving portrait of those who fought Leopold: a brave handful of missionaries, travelers, and young idealists who went to Africa for work or adventure and unexpectedly found themselves witnesses to a holocaust. Adam Hochschild brings this largely untold story alive with the wit and skill of a Barbara Tuchman. Like her, he knows that history often provides a far richer cast of characters than any novelist could invent. Chief among them is Edmund Morel, a young British shipping agent who went on to lead the international crusade against Leopold. Another hero of this tale, the Irish patriot Roger Casement, ended his life on a London gallows. Two courageous black Americans, George Washington Williams and William Sheppard, risked much to bring evidence of the Congo atrocities to the outside world. Sailing into the middle of the story was a young Congo River steamboat officer named Joseph Conrad. And looming above them all, the duplicitous billionaire King Leopold II. With great power and compassion, King Leopold's Ghost will brand the tragedy of the Congo--too long forgotten--onto the conscience of the West

    They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it -- from garden seeds to Scripture -- is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

    The book is the most complete study of the role ritual plays in the lives of African people--and the role it can play for seekers in the West.

    In one of the most miraculous events of the century, the oppressive system of apartheid was dismantled. Repressive laws mandating separation of the races were thrown out. The country, which had been carved into a crazy quilt that reserved the most prosperous areas for whites and the most desolate and backward for blacks, was reunited. The dreaded and dangerous security force, which for years had systematically tortured, spied upon, and harassed people of color and their white supporters, was dismantled. But how could this country--one of spectacular beauty and promise--come to terms with its ugly past? How could its people, whom the oppressive white government had pitted against one another, live side by side as friends and neighbors?To begin the healing process, Nelson Mandela created the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, headed by the renowned cleric Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Established in 1995, the commission faced the awesome task of hearing the testimony of the victims of apartheid as well as the oppressors. Amnesty was granted to those who offered a full confession of any crimes associated with apartheid. Since the commission began its work, it has been the central player in a drama that has riveted the country. In this book, Antjie Krog, a South African journalist and poet who has covered the work of the commission, recounts the drama, the horrors, the wrenching personal stories of the victims and their families. Through the testimonies of victims of abuse and violence, from the appearance of Winnie Mandela to former South African president P. W. Botha's extraordinary courthouse press conference, this award-winning poet leads us on an amazing journey.Country of My Skull captures the complexity of the Truth Commission's work. The narrative is often traumatic, vivid, and provocative. Krog's powerful prose lures the reader actively and inventively through a mosaic of insights, impressions, and secret themes. This compelling tale is Antjie Krog's profound literary account of the mending of a country that was in colossal need of change.

    For Fauziya Kassindja, an idyllic childhood in Togo, West Africa, sheltered from the tribal practices of polygamy and genital mutilation, ended with her beloved father's sudden death.  Forced into an arranged marriage at age seventeen, Fauziya was told to prepare for kakia, the ritual also known as female genital mutilation.  It is a ritual no woman can refuse.  But Fauziya dared to try.  This is her story--told in her own words--of fleeing Africa just hours before the ritual kakia was to take place, of seeking asylum in America only to be locked up in U.S.  prisons, and of meeting Layli Miller Bashir, a law student who became Fauziya's friend and advocate during her horrifying sixteen months behind bars.  Layli enlisted help from Karen Musalo, an expert in refugee law and acting director of the American University International Human Rights Clinic.  In addition to devoting her own considerable efforts to the case, Musalo assembled a team to fight with her on Fauziya's behalf.  Ultimately, in a landmark decision in immigration history, Fauziya Kassindja was granted asylum on June 13, 1996.  Do They Hear You When You Cry is her unforgettable chronicle of triumph.

    Most assume that what Muslim faith any Africans did bring with them was quickly absorbed into the new Christian milieu. But, surprisingly, as Sylviane Diouf shows in this new, meticulously researched volume, Islam flourished during slavery on a large scale.Servants of Allah presents a history of African Muslim slaves, following them from Africa to the Americas. It details how, even while enslaved many Black Muslims managed to follow most of the precepts of their religion. Literate, urban, and well traveled, Black Muslims drew on their organization and the strength of their beliefs to play a major part in the most well known slave uprisings. Though Islam did not survive in the Americas in its orthodox form, its mark can be found in certain religions, traditions, and artistic creations of people of African descent.But for all their accomplishments and contributions to the cultures of the African Diaspora, the Muslim slaves have been largely ignored. Servants of Allah is the first book to examine the role of Islam in the lives of both individual practitioners and in the American slave community as a whole, while also shedding light on the legacy of Islam in today's American and Caribbean cultures.Choice Outstanding Academic Title of 1999.

    Zed is still obsessed with the betrayals of his own past but must fill in the blanks of this victim's life. Who tortured and killed Smit, and who was Smit in the first place? Not the man whose papers he carries, that much is certain. Zed can never be sure of the loyalties of the people with whom he is dealing--his own past reputation ensures that--and he soon finds himself uncovering secrets that the security services of many countries would like left alone.

    One of the few Afrikaners to join the resistance movement, considered a traitor by the apartheid regime, he sacrificed material success and eventually his life to do what he believed was right.

    Stylistic symbols called adinkra symbols are printed on these cloths. The cloth and symbols express the wearer s feeling and sentiment about the deceased. The symbols convey a parting message to that individual. When a person wears this type of clothing, one knows that the person is in mourning.

    For those with some knowledge of Rwanda, reading it is nothing short of a cathartic experience. Much of what Peter Uvin has distilled so carefully and passionately from the Rwandan experience is also painfully relevant for other parts of the world. - Development in Practice Paradigm-rocking... simply must be required reading for anyone who desires to set foot in an African nation, no matter how noble or lofty their goals. - WorldViews An invaluable anatomy of the way development aid to Rwanda before the genocide contributed to what took place - essential reading for anyone with a tender conscience and a strong stomach. - The New Republic *Winner of the African Studies Association's 1999 Herskovits Award *A boldly critical look at structural violence relating to the 1994 Rwanda genocide Aiding Violence expresses outrage at the contradiction of massive genocide in a country considered by Western aid agencies to be a model of development. Focusing on the 1990s dynamics of militarization and polarization that resulted in genocide, Uvin reveals how aid enterprises reacted, or failed to react, to those dynamics. By outlining the profound structural basis on which the genocidal edifice was built, the book exposes practices of inequality, exclusion, and humiliation throughout Rwanda.

    Feed the sacred crocodiles at Paga, plunge into the waterfalls of the eastern highlands or marvel at the game in Mole National Park.

    The earliest pieces date from the beginning of the first millennium, the most recent from the early twentieth century before the commercial production of art for the tourist trade. All were made by Africans for their own use. Jean-Baptiste Bacquart has divided Africa south of the Sahara into forty-nine cultural areas. Each section studies the most important tribe within that area, surveying its social and political structures as well as its artistic production. The art is analyzed according to typein most instances masks, statues, and everyday objects such as utensils, furniture, and jewelry. When appropriate, further information on artistically related tribes is provided. Each section contains lavishly presented color photographs of all the major object types, documentary black-and-white illustrations, and its own bibliography. A detailed reference section with information on key collections open to the public and a glossary completes this invaluable publication, the only one to present the entire range of black African art in accessible form. 865 illustrations and photographs, 195 in color.

    With this unique wide-ranging reference, kids will learn why myths developed and explore the common themes that are echoed across cultural and geographic boundaries. Fully cross-referenced, the book covers cultures as diverse as Siberia, India, and the Amazon, as well as the more familiar civilizations of Greece, Rome, and the Americas. Includes a glossary of more than 600 mythical characters.

    In 1977, Robinson founded TransAfrica, the first organization to lobby for the interests of African and Caribbean peoples. TransAfrica was instrumental in the release of Nelson Mandela from prison in South Africa and the reinstatement of President Aristide in Haiti. Robinson's thoughtful and provocative memoir paints a vivid picture of racism in the hallowed halls of Harvard, where he went to law school, as well as the corridors of power in Washington, D.C. He also recounts in fascinating detail his trips to troubled African and Caribbean nations; more than anyone else, he has raised awareness of the problems in those countries. Defending The Spirit also gives a devastating commentary on America's foreign policy endeavors in African and Caribbean nations, and an impassioned call to African-Americans for new leadership and activism to fight racism all over the world.

    Coretta Scott King Award winner James Haskins and Kathleen Benson take readers back in time to visit the kingdoms of Kush, whose black pharaohs ruled Egypt for nearly a century; Ghana, where between A.D. 450 and 1230 more gold was traded than anywhere else in the world; and many others. Lush illustrations by Coretta Scott King Honor artist Floyd Cooper evoke the richly layered heritage of the African continent and its people and how they made a powerful impact on world history. Look for the companion books, "Bound for America" and "Building a new Land," in your local library.

    Sponsored by Dr. Louis Leakey, the 34-year-old Fossey had embarked on a 19-year project that began as a field study of gorillas but expanded into a labor of love and a mission to protect the magnificent species from extinction. No human ever came closer to the mysterious mountain gorillas than Fossey, but as her relationship with the animals grew, her fierce battle against poachers did also. Fossey was murdered in 1985, but her legacy endures. This dramatic story of her vital work is an important record for a new generation of readers.

    This work travels the globe to reveal how the babies live in a range of places and cultures. Photographs coupled with interviews with specialists in the various societies, reveal details of life in Sioux, Manchu, Patagonian and many other communities. In five sections covering bathing, clothing, carrying, sleeping and family, this work offers an introduction to child-rearing traditions around the world. The authors have also written Abrams' Babies: History, Art, and Folklore.

    But Zoleka has something on her mind. So she walks quietly with her mother and her little brother to church. Will she remember all the words of the verse she has to recite for the Palm Sunday service?

    His young son, Kweku, learns from him, just as Bobbo learned from his father. Through Kweku's eyes, we see family and community life in the small fishing village of Denu. Kweku learns that in life, just as in weaving, "one thread is weak, while threads woven together are strong." Magnificent full color photographs.

    This study raises the wider issues of the relationship between the state of art and the art of the state, particularly in their struggle for the control of performance space in territorial, temporal, social, and even psychic contexts. Kenyan writer, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, calls for the alliance of art and people power, freedom and dignity against the encroachments of modern states. Art, he argues, needs to be active, engaged, insistent on being what it has always been, the embodiment of dreams for a truly human world.

    Fatherless from an early age, he leaves his village to go and live and work with his extended family but becomes involved in politics, leading to confrontation with the police and eventual exile.

    Because of his opposition to apartheid as a member of the Liberal Party of South Africa and the African Resistance Movement, he was banned, detained, imprisoned, and banned again. Facing a possible death penalty he refused to be witness for the state or give undertakings to two supreme court judges who were prepared to negotiate with the National government for his release from prison.

    Now with dramatically intimate photographs Ondaatje brings new evidence and proof of the Nile's true source and the origins of mankind.

    The fourteen stories in this collection are some of his favorites, previously published in The Ox of the Wonderful Horns; Beat the Story-Drum, Pum-Pum (Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration); and Lion and the Ostrich Chicks (Coretta Scott King Honor Book). Retold with rich, musical narration, and illustrated with Mr. Bryan's distinctive paintings, these tales are full of fun and magic and a few lessons to be learned. They are tales of tricksters, chieftains, and both wise and foolish creatures. You will learn why Frog and Snake never play together, or why Bush Cow and Elephant are bad friends, or of the problems that a husband has because he likes to count spoonfuls. Although the stories come from many parts of Africa, they are full of the universal human spirit, to be shared and treasured for every generation, uh-huh.

    He unveils the ugly parallels that exist between the oppression of humans in the ‘old’ South Africa and the continuing cruel exploitation of wild animals in the ‘new’ South Africa. He exposes the myths of South Africa’s conservation image and how, even at present, these myths are largely believed and unquestioned. Even now, hunting is still openly ‘sold’ to the public as an integral part of ‘conservation’ rather than for the use and profit of humans. Patterson argues for a return to the African environmentalism with which trophy hunting and the killing of animals for sport is utterly incompatible.Although this controversial book makes for grim reading, it is nonetheless uplifting in that it fuels hope for the end of a morally dubious industry that lives on death.Praise for Gareth Patterson:‘Patterson soldiers on, triumphing over adversities that would have broken lesser men…like Adamson before him, he cannot bear to think of a lion that is not free.’ The Times'Both (Adamson and Patterson) respected the lion's character, and its place in nature's hierarchy. Both wished to share their lives with this great predator. Both have had their wishes fulfilled...their extraordinary rapport with lions established a spiritual bond that continues to this day.' Virginia McKenna, award-winning actress and co-founder of the Born Free Foundation.'Moments later Rafiki appeared, a full-grown lioness in her prime. I could hear the thud of her feet as she ran straight at Gareth, then rose on her hind legs to place her huge paws over his shoulders, while he in turn hugged her...and the big lioness grunted with pleasure at seeing her friend again.'Twelve years ago I had watched George Adamson being greeted in exactly the same way when he introduced me to his wild pride at Kora (in Kenya). It was a sight I had never expected to see again; yet here I was in Botswana, watching the man who had so modestly assumed the Adamson mantle.' Brian Jackman, award-winning author of The Marsh Lions and Roaring at the Dawn.Find out more about Gareth Patterson at his website: www.garethpatterson.com

    Second volume of Deutscher prize-winning trilogy on the future of IR, tracing the defining characteristics of 'foreign encounters' over time.

    Some of those involved in the debate have even asserted that the original languages of Africa contained no words for gay or lesbian, therefore concluding that they did not exist. As the first work of its kind on the subject, Boy-Wives and Female-Husbands answers an urgent need for accurate, well-researched, and balanced work on African sexuality. It offers perspectives from the fields of anthropology and history, along with extensive evidence from ethnographic and literary sources. The essays explore such topics as woman-woman marriages, early reports of Malagasy "berdaches," male homosexuality in contemporary West Africa, alternative gender identities among the Swahili, the regulation of sexuality in colonial Zimbabwe, and the portrayals of homosexuality in modern African literature. Bound to be an invaluable resource for discussions of traditional and contemporary African cultures, Boy-Wives and Female-Husbands is a book whose time has clearly come.

    A full-color exploration of the feral cats of an exotic African island.

    Mazrui, creator of the groundbreaking PBS series The Africans, teams up with his son Alamin to examine the complexities and contradictions of language and cultural identity on the African continent. The Mazruis explore the challenges of native African languages surviving in countries where the political, economic, and technological discourses are conducted in Eurocentric languages such as English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese. "This linguistic state of affairs," they argue, has resulted from "the failure of African people to be nationalistic enough in linguistic terms." The Power of Babel recounts the history and impact of oral traditions, as well as the influence of Arabic, Christian, and Semitic-based growths in literacy and the imposition of the European concept of the nation-state. The authors also detail the role African American and Afro-Saxon English speakers could play in "African counter-penetration," using English to better educate the West about Africa. This timely and important treatise also finds room to incorporate discussion of such wide-ranging subject matters as James Baldwin, Frantz Fanon, and the rise of Ebonics. --Eugene Holley Jr.

    It also discusses Robben Island as a key naval and military base during World War II, the island's flora and fauna, the Xhosa chiefs interred on the island in the 19th century, and the lives of the Robben Island warders.

    Chicken meets a hungry crocodile. These and other Dan tales are engagingly retold with dramatic black-and-white linoleum prints.

    A unique perspective of a classic story. Fascinating and colorful artwork will engage children's attention for hours of fun.

    Ancient temples and ruins long-since demolished for their stones, or lost under the waters of Lake Nasser, were saved for posterity in these pioneering photographs. Historical events such as the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the aftermath of the British bombardment of Alexandria in 1882 are included, as well as orientalist portraits of dancing girls and musicians.The domes and minarets of the Cairo skyline present the image of a city not far from its Mamluke and Ottoman past. Even the pyramids are seen afresh when the figures before them are Arabs in traditional robes or European tourists in nineteenth-century dress. The daily life of Egypt is captured in pictures of officials, water-sellers, shopkeepers, town and country scenes, courtyard interiors and mosques.

    At the time of his death, the world-renowned adventure writer was putting the finishing touches on this, a stirring and vivid biography of Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen, a man with whom he felt he had much in common. Edited and prepared for publication by his widow, Fiona Capstick, this riveting book is Capstick's farewell to his fans and the final addition to the bestselling Peter Capstick Library.Colonel Richard Meinertzhagen was one of those rare men whom fate always seems to cast in the dramas that shape history. As a young officer, he served in India and Africa during the glory days of the British Empire, defending the crown's dominions and exploring its darkest reaches. His exploits in the bloody colonial wars of turn-of-the-century East Africa earned him a reputation as one of the most fierce and ruthless soldiers in the Empire, yet it was during those years spent roaming the silent places of the Serengeti, hunting its game and learning its secrets, that Meinertzhagen developed a fascination with Africa that would last a lifetime.But there were other adventures to come, and Capstick narrates them all with his trademark skill and wit: daring commando raids against German forces in Africa and the Mideast during World War I, covert missions to the USSR and Nazi Germany between the wars, work as an OSS agent during World War II, and Meinertzhagen's ceaseless support of Israeli nationhood are all woven together into an epic adventure, a powerful chronicle that follows the tracks of a twentieth-century legend.

    North America: Ohio U Press; Kenya: EAEP

    In the photographs of the highly acclaimed photojournalist Peter Magubane and a fascinating, sensitive text, Vanishing Cultures of South Africa reveals the ways of the indigenous groups, recording the roots of South African cultural identity. Ten major ethnic groups are featured - including the San, Zulu, Ndebele, Basotho, and Venda - as well as several smaller sub-groups. This book describes the individual personality and history of each, their education, laws, languages, medicine and magic, and their religion. Over 200 photographs capture the vibrant color of ceremonial and everyday dress and ornamentation, musical instruments, dances and rites of passage, art, homes, and work. The remarkable metal neck rings and the geometrically beaded wire hoops worn by Ndebele and Ntwana women, the sacrificial ceremonies of the Zulu, the long pipes smoked by the Xhosa, and the traditional hunter-gatherer weapons of the San, deep in the Kalahari Desert - the details of today's way of life are recorded here in evocative pictures, while former traditions, now lost, fill the text with the intriguing, vital history of each group. Vanishing Cultures of South Africa is a cultural record of striking importance, capturing the beauty of the still-meaningful customs and the powerful ties of traditional life.

    How much of this was truth and how much legend? The author of Meetings with Remarkable Trees, Thomas Pakenham traveled to Ethiopia to find out. The predicament of the prisoners had been even more melodramatic than previously surmised. And an incredible archeological discovery was made: a medieval church of the finest style ever recorded. Nearly 40 years after the story was published in 1959, Pakenham returned to the Mountain. In this edition, historical insight and new color photography are added to the original story. 176 pages (all in color), 9 1/2 x 11 3/8.

    For the past 50 years they have redefined beauty, fashion, and style in dramatic ways. Each era would exalt its star models: Dorothea Towles, Helen Williams, Naomi Sims, Beverly Johnson, Iman, Naomi Campbell, and Tyra Banks, among them. Less well known are the many other talented, elegant women who enjoyed careers as well. At every level of achievement, however, they all confronted challenges testing their courage, endurance, and integrity.How they succeeded - and sometimes failed - is thecompelling essence of Skin Deep.Only an insider could tell the story of Black models with the authenticity it deserves. Barbara Summers, a Ford model for 17 years, spent a decade interviewing dozens of models and fashion professionals on three continents to record their experiences. With insight and flair, she gives voice to familiar faces. With an artist's eye, she pored over hundreds of images by the world's most acclaimed photographers to select the more than 250 pictures that make this volume a landmark publication.Black models transformed the fashion industry.Popular culture around the world would never be the same again. Beyond advertisements for clothes and cosmetics, they projected visions of a far more precious but far less tangible product: freedom.

    After severe fighting, the city was razed. More than two thousand people perished in the attack.A hundred years later, the world was shocked by the murder of Ken Saro-Wiwa—writer, political activist, and leader of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People. Again the people of Nembe were locked in a grim life-and-death struggle to safeguard their livelihood from two forces: a series of corrupt and repressive Nigerian governments and the giant multinational Royal Dutch Shell.Ike Okonta and Oronto Douglas present a devastating case against the world’s largest oil company, demonstrating how (in contrast to Shell’s public profile) irresponsible practices have degraded agricultural land and left a people destitute. The plunder of the Niger Delta has turned full circle as crude oil has taken the place of palm oil, but the dramatis personae remain the same: a powerful multinational company bent on extracting the last drop of blood from the richly endowed Niger Delta, and a courageous people determined to resist.

    Finding the roots of these demonizations deep in the myth and traditions of classical antiquity, he examines how the monstrous humanoid creatures of ancient myth and the fabulous wild men of the medieval European woods shaped early modern explorers' interpretations of the New World they encountered. Drawing on a global scale the schematic of the Western imagination of its others, Jahoda locates the persistent identification of the racialized other with cannibalism, sexual abandon and animal drives. Turning to Europe's scientific tradition, Jahoda traces this imagery through the work of 18th century scientists on the relationship between humans and apes, the new racist biology of the 19th century studies of savagery as an arrested evolutionary state, and the assignment, especially of blacks, to a status intermediate between humans and animals, or that of children in need of paternal protection from Western masters. Finding in these traditional tropes a central influence upon the most current psychological theory, Jahoda presents a startling historical continuity of racial figuration that persists right up to the present day. Far from suggesting a program for the eradication of racial stereotypes, this remarkable effort nevertheless isolates the most significant barriers to equality buried deep within the Western tradition, and proposes a potentially redemptive self-awareness that will contribute to the gradual dismantling of racial injustice and alienation. Gustav Jahoda demonstrates how deeply rooted Western perceptions going back more than a thousand years are still feeding racial prejudice today. This highly original socio-historical contextualisation will be invaluable to scholars of psychology, sociology and anthropology, and to all those interested in the sources of racial prejudice.

    It takes only a moment for the kind and resourceful girl to free him. But instead of being grateful, the crocodile traps Salome. Can she come up with a good reason why he shouldn't eat her for lunch? Even if she can, he won't let her go! With the help of a friendly pigeon, Salome makes her escape, and the duplicitous Crocodile winds up right where he deserves to be. Based on a traditional theme in European, Asian, and African folklore, this story of ingratitude and its comeuppance is illustrated with vividly colored pastel drawings that enhance the suspense and humor of the text. The tune of Salome's song is included so that readers can sing along. Author's note, glossary.

    As part of its historic, cathartic mission, the TRC held a special hearing, calling to account the lawyers - judges, academics and members of the bar - who had been crucial participants in the apartheid legal order. This book is an account of those hearings, and an attempt to evaluate, in the light of theories of adjudication, the historical role of the judiciary and bar in the apartheid years. Written by a well-known commentator on the South African legal system who became, by chance, the first witness to give testimony at these hearings, this book reveals, often in the words of those who testified, how the judges failed in their duty to uphold the rule of law. For the most part, the lawyers of apartheid deserted its victims. The few notable exceptions both illustrate the potential for lawyers to have done more and laid the basis for the respect the rule of law still enjoys in South Africa despite apartheid. Yet, as the author shows, many continue to commit a more serious crime. Failing to confront the past, and in many cases refusing even to attend TRC hearings, the lawyers who could have helped to resist the worst excesses of apartheid remain accomplices to its evil deeds. This book offers us the spectacle of and entire legal system on trial. The echoes from this process are captured here in a way which will appeal to all - readers, lawyers and non-lawyers alike - interested in the relationship between law and justice, as it is exposed during a period of transition to democracy. The themes dealt with here will also be of considerable interest to scholars, practitioners and judges interested in the debate about judicial independence, a debate which now rages throughout the common law world.