War of Words: Memoir of a South African Journalist

(Hardback)

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Memoirs of a South African Journalist 'Benjamin Pogrund was our bravest reporter...the first to go to prison for what he wrote...also one of the first to befriend and support black political leaders and to stand by them regardless of the implications and threats to himself and his family. His courage was a inspiration.' - Donald Woods, author of 'Biko: Cry Freedom'. The amazing story of Pogrund's thirty years as a journalist in South Africa and his relationships with leaders such as Nelson Mandela.

Reviews

Benjamin Pogrund was our bravest reporter . . . His courage was an inspiration.Donald Woods, author ofBiko: Cry Freedom


[Pogrund] unfolds three stories: South Africa's; that of Johannesburg'sRand Daily Mail, for which he wrote from 1958 until its demise in 1985; and his own. Pogrund recounts his boyhood as the son of Jewish Lithuanian immigrants and his adult commitment to dispassionate reporting that could not be used as propaganda by anyone. The book is a view of apartheid's bloodiest years from inside South Africa's leading newspaper by a man who knew the country's leaders personally and who appears candid about his own mistakes and those he saw on all sides. Fascinating in both perspective and detail. Thomas J. Davis, Library Journal

Author Bio

BENJAMIN POGRUND began working as a journalist for South Africa's Rand Daily Mail in 1958. He quickly became their specialist on "black affairs," with the title of "African affairs reporter," covering the activities of the ANC and black leaders such as Nelson Mandela and Robert Sobukwe, both of whom became Pogrund's lifelong friends. He rose to eventually become deputy editor of the paper during his 26-year tenure there. Pogrund survived the years under apartheid, as well as the demise of the Rand Daily Mail itself in the 1980s. Today, Pogrund heads the Center for Social Concern in Jerusalem, where he lives with his wife, Anne, an artist.