Anthony Egan

Jonathan Hyslop has done a remarkable job piecing together the life of Bain in his book <em>The Notorious Syndicalist</em>. He has brilliantly integrated literary studies, history of the British empire and a range of other related disciplines to create a rich, finely textured work, writes Anthony Egan.

"My inspiration for this novel came from reading TRC transcripts — the powerful, shocking, sometimes deeply tragic testimonies of ordinary South Africans." Anthony Egan speaks to Jonty Driver, exiled South African poet and novelist, about his latest book.

Ahmed Kathrada’s <i>Memoirs</i> is a tribute to decency and the desire for justice that drove a generation of activists, the likes of whom we shall probably not see again, writes Anthony Egan.

Albie Sachs’s latest novel takes the on a leisurely tour through some of the great cities of Europe and of the author’s own personality. Anthony Egan gets into the head of this Constitutional Court judge.

Patrick Bond has written an unashamedly biased, at times coolly angry, account of what he perceives is the right-ward shift of the post-apartheid South African state, particularly under Mbeki, writes Anthony Egan of <i>Talk Left, Walk Right</i>.

Centering on Jules Street Furnishers in one of Johannesburg’s most crime-ridden districts, David Cohen’s tale is of theft, burglary, hold-ups and family betrayal. <i>People who have Stolen from Me</i> is a well-written page-turner. Anthony Egan reviews.

The authors of a new analysis of the Bush regime show how the character and personality of Bush feeds into what they suggest will be a disastrous new US imperialism. Anthony Egan reviews.

Renowned and controversial financier, philanthropist and active supporter of the "open society" George Soros has vowed to do his best to see that US President George Bush does not get re-elected. Anthony Egan reviews his best effort to do so.

"One senses how [Andrew] Meldrum really wanted to see Zimbabwe as a success story, a beacon of good governance and human rights in Africa; yet he was also a journalist who sought to tell the truth to the best of his ability. Truth won out over optimism." Anthony Egan reviews the deported journalist’s memoirs.

Beyond its chronic and potentially fatal medical and demographic dimensions, Aids is a social, cultural and political phenomenon. There are no easy solutions, no easy answers to the questions the pandemic poses. Anthony Egan looks at three books that attempt to address the issue.

Given the seemingly obvious connection between fiction, history and politics, it is surprising that relatively little of substance has been written on how history is articulated in "popular" (as opposed to "literary") South African fiction. Until now, writes Anthony Egan.

When we think of witchcraft violence — the persecution or killing of people who are allegedly witches — we might think only of the European Middle Ages or 17th-century Puritan America. Yet we live in a world and society where beliefs in witchcraft are still prevalent. Anthony Egan reviews a new book that sheds much light on the practice at home.

Do images of human suffering make a difference? Are we really shaken into compassion, outrage and protest by atrocity photographs; or are we just voyeurs enjoying a gruesome, quasi-pornographic thrill at "snuff" pictures? Susan Sontag, who is soon to visit South Africa, wonders in her new book whether images of suffering have a morally uplifting effect. Anthony Egan reviews.

History is nothing if not ironic, all notions of it repeating itself as farce after initial tragedy aside. A brilliant Afrikaner dissident journalist under apartheid (harassed, intimidated and on a number of hit lists), Max du Preez found himself "too hot" to handle – and "too white" – under the new dispensation, writes Anthony Egan.

Denise Ackermann is one of the foremost South African feminist theologians. An Anglican who has taught at various institutions, she is a scholar who has also delved deeply into her own experiences of suffering, of being a woman, being a South African and being white. Anthony Egan looks at her thought-provoking work.

"In the light of current events in Iraq, I wonder if Christopher Hitchens still endorses his argument in this collection of essays — that the US was right to invade Iraq and depose Saddam Hussein? With the last essay published in April 2003, he remains dismissive of the anti-war movement, dwelling rather on the celebration of Saddam’s defeat by Iraqi Americans in Dearborn, Michigan", writes Anthony Egan of <i>Regime Change</i>.

Here is a marvelous evocation of the Sixties in the memoirs of one of the USA’s major feminist antiwar activists, writes Anthony Egan of Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz’s memoirs.

How the Iraq war came to pass is the subject of this collection of essays and documents. ‘Instant history’, it went to press as the diplomatic process in the UN’s Security Council came to its ignominious conclusion and the US (together with its handful of allies – called opportunists by some) went to war, writes Anthony Egan, reviewing the latest collection of material on the matter.

Political intolerance has been a hallmark of South African society. Since the transition to democracy in 1994 this has not changed very much. This is the disturbing, yet probably not surprising, finding of poltical scientists Gibson and Gouws. Anthony Egan reviews their review.

There is something compelling about reports of war. The old news cliché ‘If it bleeds, it leads’ is true. Anthony Egan takes a look at South African-based TV journalist Hamilton Wende’s new book.

Everybody has an opinion on globalisation. Scholars produce papers on it for conferences – for, against or ambivalent – at a rate that must seriously contribute to deforestation somewhere. Journalists report on it all the time. So why read this latest report? Anthony Egan explains.

At first I thought this was going to be a profoundly irritating book. I thought it was going to be another ‘my role in the struggle’ book by a foreigner. I was happily surprised to find this was not the case, writes Anthony Egan of Lucie Pagé’s <i>Conflict of the Heart</i>.

If we accept that at least part of the present tension in our society is one of "memory against forgetting", we must accept the challenge to wade through memories — including badly written memoirs and narratives that come across as superficial or just bland. Occasionally one comes across a book that breaks this mould, writes Anthony Egan.

Von Holdt has produced a book that will probably become a classic of labour history. Detailed yet never boring, it is carefully constructed and well-research-ed. Some may object that it is one-sided (from the workers’ point of view) but he can hardly be faulted for the unwillingness of many in management or the white unions to talk to him. Anthony Egan reviews.

Who will be the post-apartheid Tutu, asks Anthony Egan. By the looks of his successor’s new book, it’s going to be Njongonkulu Ngundane.

A historical work about a murdered missionary in Lesotho recounts an era of gross hypocrisy, writes Anthony Egan.

<b>Review:</b> Stupid White Men … And Other Sorry Excuses for the State of the Nation!
Michael Moore
(Penguin)