Under Our Skin: A White Family's Journey through South Africa's Darkest Years - Brossura

McRae, Donald

Brossura

ISBN 10: 1849831378 ISBN 13: 9781849831376

Casa editrice: Simon & Schuster Ltd, 2013

Riassunto

Don McRae grew up in a South Africa where his father would call the black men he met 'boy' and where his mother insisted that their black servants used tin mugs, plates and cutlery as they ate the family's left-over food in the backyard of their grand suburban property. The McRaes, like so many white people, seemed oblivious to the violent injustices of apartheid. As the author grew up, the political differences between father and son widened and when Don refused to join up for National Service, risking imprisonment or exile overseas, the two were torn apart. It wasn't until years later that the author discovered that the father with whom he had fought so bitterly had later in his life transformed himself into a political hero. Risking everything one dark and rainy night Ian McRae travelled secretly into the black township of Soweto to meet members of Nelson Mandela's then banned African National Congress to discuss ways to bring power to black South Africa. He had no political ambitions; he was just a man trying to replace the worst in himself with something better. Under Our Skinis a memoir of these tumultuous years in South Africa's history, as told through the author's family story. It offers an intimate and penetrating perspective on life under apartheid, and tells a story of courage and fear, hope and desolation and love and pain, especially between a father and his son.

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Recensione:

Engrossing... a gripping read... elegantly told... a rich book... a moving tribute to heroism... McRae has written about the times he lived so simply and so visually that we, too, can share in his memories - The Times

A touchingly apologetic tribute to his father s quiet heroism ... An arresting marriage of reportage and heartfelt confession - The Sunday Times

McRae does a beautiful job of seeing South Africa through a child's eyes... harrowing... but its undoubted power is always combined with a more reflective intelligence - Readers Digest

Donald McRae's exquisitely framed memoir, Under Our Skin, recalls a not-so-distant era when people were dying, and being tortured, and being conscripted to fight in defense of a twisted ideology . . . This is also a father-and-son story. In his unfailingly crisp and understated prose, McRae recalls with great tenderness how his dad nursed him when he cut his face open on a metal bedstead - Observer

McRae's sober, well-crafted memoir captures the moral nuances as well as the horrors of the apartheid era . . . Under Our Skin is also a coming-of-age memoir of a more conventional stamp, full of the sounds and smells of an African childhood. McRae recaptures the gaucheness of his teenage years with humour and tenderness . . . deft and fascinating -Sunday Telegraph

A moving memoir of a father and son s conflict in a white South African family during apartheid -Sunday Times

McRae's sober, well-crafted memoir captures the moral nuances as well as the horrors of the apartheid era . . . Under Our Skin is also a coming-of-age memoir of a more conventional stamp, full of the sounds and smells of an African childhood. McRae recaptures the gaucheness of his teenage years with humour and tenderness . . . deft and fascinating --Sunday Telegraph

L'autore:

Donald McRae is the award-winning author of seven books. He is one of only two authors to have won the prestigious William Hill award twice, for Dark Trade and In Black & White. As a journalist he has twice won Sports Interviewer of the Year - as well as winning Sports Feature Writer of the Year. His latest book, The Old Devil, is also published by Simon & Schuster.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Simon & Schuster Ltd
• Data di pubblicazione: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1849831378
• ISBN 13: 9781849831376
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 432