- Hardcover: 720 pages
- Publisher: Allen Lane (2 April 2009)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0713995386
- ISBN-13: 978-0713995381
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 15.8 x 5 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 527,446 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
South Africa's Brave New World
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Review
'South Africa's Brave New World is both a tour de force and a tour de horizon of South Africa's uneven journey since 1994 and the ascent of the ANC to government. It is a tale, told with verve and in no-holds-barred style which lifts the lid on a range of topics which have been semi-buried by the miasma of political correctness which has engulfed the country since the advent of democracy. Parts of the tapestry which Johnson stitches with expertise and eloquence is variously inspirational, harrowing and even disturbing and shocking. The journey encompasses the pinnacles of high achievement and very often the precipices of low politics and skulduggery in high places. An essential contribution to South Africa's history-in-the-making.'
-- Tony Leon
-- Tony Leon
Review
'Johnson names names and spells out amounts ... there are landmines scattered throughout ... not a comfortable wrap up'
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reality Check for Liberals,
By
This review is from: South Africa's Brave New World: The Beloved Country Since the End of Apartheid (Hardcover)
What has to be recognised at the outset is that nothing in this book provides (or seeks to provide) an apologia for Apartheid. The demise of whites only rule in South Africa remains an inspriring chapter in the annals of human social development. However, much less inspring and detailed here, is South Africa's decline into a land mediocrity, corruption, low expectations, criminality absurdist political posturing and in-fighting. The character of Thabo Mbeki takes centre stage in this sorry tale: a man with chips on both shoulders, a hugely inflated sense of his own intellect and a paranoia that would brook no political opposition. That the ANC have discarded him can only be seen as positive and we can only hope that Zuma's new dispensation sees some return to the optimistic dreams of ninety-four.
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
AVID READER am,
By
This review is from: South Africa's Brave New World: The Beloved Country Since the End of Apartheid (Paperback)
I am one of those thousands of health professionals who left South Africa and headed for the " Bright Shores " of England. This does not make me happy. Reading this thoroughly researched volume , I cannot classify it as anything but a blistering indictment on past and present ANC governments . I fear the future appears even more bleak .You can feel the pain of the author as he describes , sometimes in exhaustive detail , the widespread incompetance , indifference , self serving egotism permeating through the land we love . I would be very curious to find out the reaction to this book in SA. I feel nothing but sadness reading this book . The Beloved Country is no more .
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Lengthy anti-ANC polemic,
This review is from: South Africa's Brave New World: The Beloved Country Since the End of Apartheid (Hardcover)
Johnson doesn't hold back in this book. It is the work of a sincere, anti-apartheid liberal who has grown profoundly frustrated at the mis-rule of the ANC. He analyses the ANC's failings in very great detail, at times perhaps too much detail for a non-South African reader unfamiliar with all the various actors. At times, the negativity can seem somewhat relentless and one occasionally wonders whether Johnson gives the ANC too little credit for South Africa's successes since 1994, most notably the relatively sensible economic policies of Trevor Manuel.The book is most enlightening when analysing Thabo Mbeki's psychological make-up. Johnson outlines a disturbed, paranoid individual whose "colonial mindset" prevented him from confronting reality. Those puzzled by Mbeki's AIDS-denialism and refusal to confront Robert Mugabe will find their answers here.
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