Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa

Country of My Skull: Guilt, Sorrow, and the Limits of Forgiveness in the New South Africa by Antjie KrogOne of the greatest social laboratories of change in modern times was the collapse of apartheid and the birth of the modern democratic Republic of South Africa. Out of the civic catharsis embodied in this collapse and the subsequent racial and political somersault of South African society, a unique and classic venue for human rights, The South Africa Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), was created.In this deeply moving book, Antjie Krog, South African poet and child of the Free State, has compiled a compelling record of the TRC. The reader will receive an immediate and powerful exposure to Bishop Edmund Tutu's Ubuntu theology (the harmony between individual and community) as an embodiment of the ancient African Weltganschauung (a person is human precisely in the community of other human beings).Again, it is the poet who elucidates for the rest of us the heart of man-as-community. Utilizing a first-person dialogue within a keen observational and lovely prosaic style, Antjie Krog enables us to enter both the foreheads of perpetrators of violence and the hearts of its victims. It also includes rare insights into the indifference and guilt of both white and black citizens during the apartheid regime. In this chronicle of the TRC, we witness an abiding desire to expose the dark past in constructing the crucial accountability to future generations. This, as Antjie Krog so lovingly describes, is the miracle rebirth her "wide and woeful land."This fascinating journaling of the petitions before the TRC - the angst in seeking a common unity - reveals a redeeming Phoenix of truth in the ashes of apartheid. Antjie Krog's unique documentation of the proceedings of the TRC is a valued record of modern South African history. This is a beautifully written and classic case-study of essential "transparency" in global constitutional democracy.Jess Maghan, Chester, Ct.05 February 2002

Thankyou Antjie. You clarify a brave, extraordinary venture into reconciliation as a serious option to persistent conflict. It must have been a harrowing journey for you. I hope I meet and thank you someday (indeed, and again thank you from my soul, I actually did at Columbia University, although had not expected your deeply respected reaction). Ive worked throughout Southern Africa off and on for many years. For several of those years I carried two passports, one for when I flew via Johannesburg, and the other with a visa for entry into any African country, who might refuse me passage if they saw my TYD.VERBLYPERMIT stamp. For me personally, apartheid was a stain on my heritage and on the distorted world into which I had grown up. Despite an Oxford degree in english literature, I continued reading thousands of books for more than thirty years. This is the only book I have ever read which completely tore my heart to tears.

Still in Antjie's report and shudder at the sorrow and violence of the past. Hope for a new and better Future..if people will only REMEMBER!

Fascinating, searing report on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings in South AfricaI give it three stars as a non-South African reader because a lot is lost unless one is very familiar withthe political figures, groups, names of the hit squads, etc. involved in the Apartheid era atrocities. An appendixdealing with personalities and acronyms would be a great addition.Author/journalist Anjie Krog includes discussions of the details of what worked, what didn't , the ambiguity and lackof clear blacks and whites with which this T & R Commission dealt - and which any such process involves.The fragmented quality of the narrative beautifully conveys the stark, traumatic quality of the actual hearings.

Country of my Skull is an excellent read for those interested in what happened in South Africa, and the truth and reconciliation commission held in the 1990s.Krog offers a number of perspectives, including her own as she wrestles with the realities put forward during the commission's work. Her writing style allows for some creative elements that enhance the writing and the material, while not taking away from the facts. This is a must for students who are interested in peace and conflict studies, or anyone interested in South African politics.

This book provides a window into South Africa after the Apartheid, of how to deal with the all of the fall out from all the crimes against humanity the former Regime had perpetrated, it can get rather depressing and I feel that I cant give it 5 stars because of how just sometimes it gets so uncomfortable to read

This book was assigned reading for a Comparative Politics course. It is a truth report on South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Committee. To fully understand it, you need more South African cultural literacy than I have, but it still provides a picture of what happened there during and after the struggle against apartheid. Readable, but not a page turner.

Incredibly written.

grossartiges Buch

Good quality book on a very interesting period in SA history. An impressive outline of the TRC and the many challanges that went into this challenging time period.