Bram Fischer
Afrikaner Revolutionary
The extraordinary story of a pioneering anti-apartheid leader who led Nelson Mandela's defense at the Rivonia trial
"How Bram Fischer resolved—in sacrifice of material success, easy honors, personal freedom, and finally his life—the contradictions of his situation as a white and Afrikaner is told with honesty, deep intelligence, and admirable skill worthy of the subject. The apartheid government would not give Fischer's ashes to his children. He has no monument in stone; but this book is testimony that his life continues in his great contributions to the free South Africa now realized."—Nadine Gordimer
"Clingman's passionate study of Afrikaner dissident Bram Fischer brings to light a little-known figure who was one of the founding fathers of the liberation struggle and a close comrade and friend of Mandela's."—Washington Post Book World (front-page review)
"To the apartheid regime in South Africa, Bram Fischer was a traitor. The son of an illustrious Afrikaans family, he was a Rhodes scholar and an eminent lawyer, destined for the highest office; instead, he joined the radical resistance movement, one of the very few Afrikaners to do so. . . . [Clingman's] eloquent biography draws on a wealth of letters, interviews, and other primary sources for a dramatic account of Fischer and his country. . . . The story is as astonishing as that of the Righteous Gentiles, and as heroic."—Booklist
"Clingman has given his fellow South Africans a slice of history to be deeply proud of, and one which may stop in their tracks some of those former collaborators engaged in rewriting history to make out that apartheid was not so very evil."—(London) Guardian
"Clingman's passionate study of Afrikaner dissident Bram Fischer brings to light a little-known figure who was one of the founding fathers of the liberation struggle and a close comrade and friend of Mandela's."—Washington Post Book World (front-page review)
"To the apartheid regime in South Africa, Bram Fischer was a traitor. The son of an illustrious Afrikaans family, he was a Rhodes scholar and an eminent lawyer, destined for the highest office; instead, he joined the radical resistance movement, one of the very few Afrikaners to do so. . . . [Clingman's] eloquent biography draws on a wealth of letters, interviews, and other primary sources for a dramatic account of Fischer and his country. . . . The story is as astonishing as that of the Righteous Gentiles, and as heroic."—Booklist
"Clingman has given his fellow South Africans a slice of history to be deeply proud of, and one which may stop in their tracks some of those former collaborators engaged in rewriting history to make out that apartheid was not so very evil."—(London) Guardian