Country of My Skull

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission, created by Nelson Mandela and led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was intended to staunch the wounds of Apartheid without precipitating a bloody revenge.  Alternately praised and condemned since its creation in 1995, it has been among the pivotal agents shaping the new South Africa.  In Country of My Skull Antjie Krog, a native South African poet and journalist , interweaves personal recollections, first hand reportage on the Commission's work  -- which she covered for the South African Broadcasting Corporation -- and vivid portraits of the players who charted its course.   From highlights, like Winnie Mandela's appearance, to the more mundane horror of personal accounts by victims and victimizers and from public spectacles, like P.W. Botha's press conference, to private conversations with friends and family, Krog manages to place the Commission within the framework of the country and explore how each affected the other.

Krog communicates the complexity of South Africa, and the Commission, without making them incomprehensible.  Country of My Skull is a valuable resource for anyone trying to make sense of the course of recent South African history.

PRAISE FOR Country of My Skull:

"Here is the extraordinary reportage of one who, eyes staring into the filthiest places of atrocity, poet's searing tongue speaking of them, is not afraid to go too far. Antjie Krog breaks all the rules of dispassionate recounts, the restraints of 'decent' prose, because this is where the truth might be reached and reconciliation with it is posited like a bewildered angel thrust down into hell."
--Nadine Gordimer, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature

"This is a deeply moving account of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission--South Africa's attempt to come to terms with her often horrendous past. Antjie Krog writes with the sensitivity of a poet and the clarity of a journalist. Country of My Skull is a must-read for all who are fascinated by this unique attempt to deal with a post-conflict context. It is a beautiful and powerful book."
--Archbishop Desmond Tutu

"Trying to understand the new South Africa without the Truth and Reconciliation Commission would be futile; trying to understand the commission without this book would be irresponsible."
--André Brink, author of A Dry White Season

"Country of My Skull is an unforgettable passion play about the ongoing struggle for political freedom and human rights in South Africa. By analyzing the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in such absorbing and poetic detail, Antjie Krog has rendered the world a great service. This elegant manifesto for justice will haunt the soul long after the reading is done."
--Douglas Brinkley, professor of history and director of the Eisenhower Center at the University of New Orleans

"One of the best books of the year."
--The Economist