Sandy lived and worked in South Africa between 1988 and 2003, years coinciding with some of the most tumultuous and significant events in the history of the nation, including the release of Mandela. Set against a background of profound political and social change, Sandy tells her personal story with honesty, passion, intelligence and humour. As a community development worker in the townships she witnessed the brutality of life under the apartheid regime yet at the same time she was bewitch...

Five kids orphaned by a terrible accident . . .A struggling family living in the most isolated spot on earth . . .A single dad battling to cope in a house falling down around his ears . . .A desperately ill woman in the middle of nowhere . . .In the great Outback traditions of mateship, resilience and generosity come these stories of ordinary people who, against seemingly insurmountable odds, help out those who inhabit Austra...

From bogan to boned and beyond -- a full-frontal 'femoir' by one of Australia's best-loved journalistsFrom bogan to boned and beyond – a full-frontal femoirTracey Spicer was always the good girl. Inspired by Jana Wendt, this bogan from the Brisbane backwaters waded through the 'cruel and shallow money trench' of television to land a dream role: national news anchor for a commercial network.But the journalist found that, for women, TV was less about n...

Presenting the one and only Mr Paul Keating – at his straight-shooting, scumbag-calling, merciless best.Paul lets rip – on John Howard: “The little desiccated coconut is under pressure and he is attacking anything he can get his hands on.”On Peter Costello: “The thing about poor old Costello is he is all tip and no iceberg.”On John Hewson: “[His performance] is like being flogged with a warm lettuce.”On Andrew Peacock: “...what we have here is an intellectua...

Hold onto your hats: popular and controversial Toronto city journalist Sue-Ann Levy -- a self-described nice, chubby, Jewish, gay, conservative girl -- takes on the establishment and establishment thinking in this provocative, honest, and insightful memoir that will surprise her fans and foes alike.Sue-Ann Levy was born to a traditional patriarchal Jewish family in which the son was considered accomplished simply for being born, and she realized from an early age t...

Amazing bastard (colloquial), n: a bloke who does stuff that other bastards wouldn't try in a month of SundaysWe've all met them, or at least read about them - men who drive faster, climb higher, build and invent and triumph over impossible odds.Journalist Lawrence Money has assembled a collection of Amazing Aussie Bastards who truly stand out from the crowd. Immune to critics and disbelievers, undaunted by illness or financial setback, they have done what writer S...

Moving country remains the hugest thing weve ever experienced/ accomplished/ drowned in. Its an act of seemingly utter insanity, which negates all ones most primal connections to the cosmos. I find myself quoting Keats more often, Happiness is sharpened by its antithetical elements. Experiencing a new chapter of life is life-altering and isnt given enough credence. Each day we are grateful to taste a figuratively different menu, yet simultaneously we miss the staple diet stemming from our ...

In What if there were no whites in South Africa? Ferial Haffajee examines South Africa’s history and present in the light of a provocative question that yields some thought-provoking discussion and analysis. From round-table discussions with influential South Africans, to research, personal thoughts and powerful anecdotes, Ferial takes the reader through the rocky terrain of race rage in our country and grapples with what it means to be South African in 2015.

From horse whispering to crocodile hunting to single-handedly changing an 80-kilo flat tyre on a road train in 40-degree heat…there is nothing these modern-day outback women can't do.But when it comes to hardship and heartbreak, they've endured far more than their fair share. Living and working in some of the most remote spots in the world, they've had to become experts at turning tragedy into triumph.Our former Miss World finds a new start in the bush; an adventurer crosses...

Identity, belonging and voyages of personal discovery are but some of the themes inventively explored in Antjie Krog’s first full-length work to appear in English since the publication of Country of My Skull. In times of fundamental change, people tend to find a space, lose it and then find another space as life and the world transform around them. What does this metamorphosis entail and in what ways are we affected by it? How do we live through it and what may we become on our journey tow...

In the winter of 1975, Erich Rautenbach’s life took a serious turn for the worse when he was bust for selling weed by gun-toting undercover cops. He’d been selling the dope to raise money to leave South Africa in a bid to escape his army call-up and resist having to shoot people in the name of apartheid. But instead he found himself in the infamous John Vorster Square, at the mercy of drug squad policemen who seemed convinced that he was part of some notorious drug ring. This wild memoir r...

As a journalist, Kevin Bloom had witnessed and reported on the rising tide of violence in post-Apartheid South Africa. But when his own cousin was killed in a vicious random attack, the questions he'd been asking about the troubling political and social changes in his country took on a sickeningly personal urgency. Suddenly, it felt as though this South Africa was no longer the place he'd grown up in or the place which felt like home. Still stunned by the loss, Bloom begins to trace the pa...