Beyond the Miracle: Inside the New South Africa
by Allister Sparks
On This Page
Description
In Beyond the Miracle, a distinguished South African journalist provides a wide-ranging and unflinching account of the first nine years of democratic government in South Africa. Covering both the new regime's proud achievements and its disappointing failures, Allister Sparks looks to South Africa's future, asking whether it can overcome its history and current global trends to create a truly nonracial, multicultural, and multiparty democracy. Sparks sees South Africa as facing many of the show more same challenges as the rest of the world, especially a widening gap between rich and poor, exacerbated by the forces of globalization. While the transition government has done much to establish democracy and racial equality in a short time, as well as bring basic services such as clean water to millions who did not have them before, many blacks feel it has not done enough to redress the continuing imbalance of wealth in the country. Many whites, meanwhile, feel disempowered and confused about what role they have to play as a racial minority in a country they used to rule and regard as theirs by divine right. Sparks also covers other burning issues, such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic, high crime rates, the diamond wars, the Congo conflict, and the Zimbabwean land crisis. Writing vividly and often quite movingly, Sparks draws on his decades of journalistic experience and his recent insider access to key figures in the liberation government to take stock of where South Africa has been, where it's going, and why the rest of the world should not turn away from this country where the First and Third Worlds meet. As Sparks persuasively argues, the success of Mandela's vision of a peaceful "rainbow nation" is crucial not just for the salvation of Africa, but also for the world. "Sparks, a grandfather of South African journalism, has fired one of the first volleys in the 10-year assessment. . . . It is an even-handed work, almost encyclopedic in its breadth. Sparks traverses all the important political terrain."--Mail & Guardian "It is as good a guide to the new South Africa as any."--Economist show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
Mandela's inauguration as presiden of South Africa was a defining moment of the c20th. This book attempts to analyse what has happen in the country in the decade since South Africa went through it's extraordinary bloodless revolution. It is the story of some singular triumphs and some distressing failures. For the rest of the world the new South Africa represents a unique negotiated resolution to an historical conflict that had its roots in rival claims to sovereignty over the same piece of national territory. This conflict is repeated in many of the world's most intractable trouble spots - between Palestinian and Israeli, Greeks and Turks in Cyprus, Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland, in that respect particularly the new show more South Africa is of global importance as a template for resolution. show less
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
7 Works 418 Members
Allister Haddon Sparks was born in Cathcart, South Africa on March 10, 1933. After graduating from Queen's College in Queenstown, he was hired by the newspaper The Queenstown Daily Representative. He eventually joined The Rand Daily Mail as a political correspondent and columnist. He became an assistant editor there in 1967, an editor of The show more Sunday Express in 1974, and then editor of The Rand Daily Mail in 1977. While there, he challenged apartheid and exposed a covert propaganda campaign by the government, which led to the resignation of President John Vorster in 1979. Sparks was fired in 1981. He became a foreign correspondent in South Africa for The Washington Post, The New Yorker, and The Observer in Britain. He wrote six books during his lifetime including The Mind of South Africa, Tomorrow Is Another Country, and The Sword and the Pen. He died from heart failure after an infection on September 19, 2016 at the age of 83. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Common Knowledge
- Important places*
- Zuid-Afrika
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
Classifications
Statistics
- Members
- 71
- Popularity
- 443,251
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.50)
- Languages
- Dutch, English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 5
