Books on Apartheid

American Apartheid
Book by James S. Wright

Reviews:

Apartheid in South Africa (Witness to History)
Book by David Downing
Gr. 7-10. Part of the Witness to History series, this dense volume is an excellent narrative overview of the apartheid struggle, drawing extensively on primary sources that provide depth, detail, drama, and authenticity. Still very readable, the pages are packed with newspaper articles and official documents, full-color documentary photos, and boxed insets, in varied typefaces, that provide context for the quotes that present many sides of the issues. The bibliography is short, but the fully documented list of primary sources will stimulate readers to find out more, and the book has both an extensive glossary and a time line. Other titles in the series include Afghanistan, Hiroshima, and The War in Iraq. Hazel Rochman. Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Crossing the Line: A Year in the Land of Apartheid
Book by William Finnegan
From Publishers Weekly
In one of the best recent books on South Africa, an American vividly recalls his experiences as a white teacher of black students near Cape Town and intersperses more detached descriptions of what was going on under apartheid. Finnegan wanted attentive, disciplined students at the same time that he encouraged in them a radical skepticism, a critical, independent habit of mind, a combative approach to all forms of vested authority. He tried to counsel his students to aim high and work hard, and he often met with hostility. Within that one year, he became acutely aware of how rapidly they were becoming more active in boycotts and protests and forming an essential element of a growing revolutionary movement. He shows how the Afrikaners' hatred for African children has led to bloody massacres and how their fear is an unspoken, unconscious recognition that communal violence is retribution for the countless blacks killed and maimed over the years. A final section describing Finnegan's long hitch-hiking trip with a bitter, white-hating, 18-year-old black woman beautifully shows the apartheid situation in microcosm. Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title. Norman Rush, New York Times Book Review.
"How does it happen that the main combatants in the struggle against the South African race state are children? In Crossing the Line we have a powerful and responsible testimony illuminating that question and others that flow from it. This may be the best book to give to an American trying for the first time to understand the agony of South Africa."

Overcoming Apartheid: Can Truth Reconcile a Divided Nation? Book by James L. Gibson
A groundbreaking work of social science research, "Overcoming Apartheid" is also a primer for utilizing innovative conceptual and methodological tools in analyzing truth processes throughout the world. It is sure to be a valuable resource for political scientists, social scientists, group relations theorists, and students of transitional justice and human rights.
Perhaps no country in history has so directly and thoroughly confronted its past in an effort to shape its future as has South Africa. Working from the belief that understanding the past will help build a more peaceful and democratic future, South Africa has made a concerted, institutionalized effort to come to grips with its history of apartheid through its Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In "Overcoming Apartheid," James L. Gibson provides the first systematic assessment of whether South Africa’s truth and reconciliation process has been successful. Has the process allowed South Africa to let go of its painful past and move on? Or has it exacerbated racial tensions by revisiting painful human rights violations and granting amnesty to their perpetrators?
"Overcoming Apartheid" reports on the largest and most comprehensive study of post-apartheid attitudes in South Africa to date, involving a representative sample of all major racial, ethnic, and linguistic groups.
Grounding his analysis of "truth" in theories of collective memory, Gibson discovers that the process has been most successful in creating a common understanding of the nature of apartheid. His analysis then demonstrates how this common understanding is helping to foster "reconciliation," as defined by the acceptance of basic principles of human rights and political tolerance, rejection of racial prejudice, and acceptance of the institutions of a new political order. Gibson identifies key elements in the process—such as acknowledging shared responsibility for atrocities of the past—that are essential if reconciliation is to move forward. He concludes that without the truth and reconciliation process, the prospects for a reconciled, democratic South Africa would! diminish considerably. Gibson also speculates about whether the South African experience provides any lessons for other countries around the globe trying to overcome their repressive pasts.
James L. Gibson is Sidney W. Souers Professor of Government at Washington University, St. Louis.

Is Apartheid Really Dead: Pan Africanist Working Class Cultural Critical Perspectives Book by Julian Kunnie
Is Apartheid Really Dead? provides an illuminating and comprehensive critique of post-apartheid society in South Africa, through the lenses of indigenous Black Consciousness philosophy, and discussing issues of class, gender, religio-culture, and Pan Africanism.

American Apartheid
Book by James S. Wright
"American Apartheid" discusses the unfair and brutal treatment of Native Americans and Africans in the United States. Similar to the African tradition of storytelling, the author recreates the injustices of the founding fathers of this country against the ancestors of the Native Americans and enslaved Africans. The historical perspective of "American Apartheid" sheds light in the dark tunnels of ignorance so prevalent in the teaching of American history. Most black children in the USA are taught that 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. Yet, they are not taught that 120 million Africans died because of the effects of slavery, nor are do they learn of the torment Native Americans suffered at the hands of their persecutors. Even more alarming, they know little or nothing about Africans before they were forced to be slaves.
The purpose of this book is to teach American history in more than one color and from something other than a white perspective. Rekindle the agressive spirit that was part of the civil rights movement of the 60's. The stories told by blacks about the history of America must be handed down to each generation. If one generation is allowed to forget, all Americans risk repeating the horrific mistakes of our past.

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