"They cannot kill us all"

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Newsweek's ousted bureau chief in Johannesburg describes the tender as well as the vengeful, spiteful side of the Afrikaners, the ``strange and hopeless world'' of the Anglos, the elusive black leadership, the growing violence and brutality of black slum children and the forthrightness of Winnie Mandela and Desmond Tutu . When an Anglo banker asked Archbishop Tutu what concerned liberal businessmen could do to help in the struggle, Tutu replied: ``Stop paying taxes. Stop supporting this cruel and immoral regime with your money.'' Manning believes that despite their differences, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan strengthened apartheid, and that in less than six years, through his ``constructive engagement,'' Reagan destroyed a quarter-century of good will toward the U.S. in black South Africa. A painful, tragic book. (September 25)

Library Journal

Manning was Newsweek 's correspondent in Johannesburg for nine months until kicked out in July 1986. Although there have been other popular works about South Africa published recently, notably Graham Leach's South Africa ( LJ 7/86) and Brain Lapping's Apartheid ( LJ 4/15/87), this book is recommended as well because, rather than attempting a systematic description, it details the author's day-to-day encounters and reactions. Readers will feel they too have experienced first-hand the anguish of apartheid. This book, fascinating and disturbing, paints a picture of both black and white South Africa, while offering perspectives on averting all-out civil war. Paul H. Thomas, Hoover Inst. Lib., Stanford, Cal.