The Rift

This record of South Africans who, by choice or by necessity, left their country's brutal apartheid regime is the autobiography of a nation in exile. People speak directly or memorably about the effects of a political system on their personal lives. And now the system is changing, the exiles must decide where their home really is and whether to return to South Africa. Hilda Bernstein, herself an exile, has talked to over 200 South Africans now living all over the world. The exiles range across a spectrum of occupations, trades and professions, from priests to carpenters, professors to political activists. Men, women and children, black and white, well-known and obscure: their tales of heartache and success, shattered childhoods and strained marriages, loneliness, courage and new beginnings reveal the dramatic and lasting impact of apartheid on the lives of a nation. The author also wrote "Steve Biko", "Death is Part of the Process" and "The World That Was Ours".