The one thing I was looking forward to when I was in South Africa for two weeks at the beginning of the year was to peruse the local book store to pick up a few of my favourite genres, that being non-fiction African books. I tend to prefer the books displaying the hardships, complexities, misunderstandings that portray the forgotten continent. These type of books give off a mystic, inspiring, hope to this fascinating place. The Bang Bang Club is one of those that hit my genre tastes. A book about the heart of the South African Apartheid changes and transformations from the 80's to the mid 90's. The stories of a group of a close knit friends, companions and photojournalists termed the Bang Bang club for their pursue of the perfect picture to expose the world to the realities of the violence and warfare in the transformation of a country to democracy and freedom. They were Kevin Carter, Greg Marinovich, Ken Oosterbroek, and Joao Silva. A group of photo journalists in the thick of the tribal black hostel wars where the killings and death were brutal, indescribable and obscene. They had this rush and feeling of responsibility to be at the scene and capture the images that were portrayed all around the world at the is time. Aside from astonishing pictures, the book goes into the personal life's, their relationships, their ideologies, zest for life, battle with drugs and dealing with the images they saw. Which untimely resulted in death and suicide for some.
The one point that stands out from the story and reminded me again and again that during South Africa's "miracle" transformation the democracy change which allowed one person one vote, thousands of people lost their lives in tribal clashes, riots against the police and political instability. It was far from a smooth transition and presents that any transformation in a country will see and have to pay many, many sacrifices. A highly recommendable and a must read for those interested in the South African transformation.
2 comments:
Excellent sounds good...Let me know when you done, I would love to read it.
George
Dovi,
One of the best books I have read. I did not know much about that era, and I dont think commentators are wrong when calling 1994 a miracle, it was.
The Dillema of Kevin Carter and the child still wrestles with my mind. What a book, now it is time for me to do some blogs.
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