Very little has been written about the South African secret intelligence, but revelations to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the new culture of confessions now make that possible. James Sanders has gathered classified documents and interviewed ex-operatives since 1997 and has pieced together an extraordinary, unsavoury picture of the Intelligence Service, both inside South Africa and overseas.He reveals evidence of state-sponsored murder not only to intimidate the ANC but also to allow hard men within the police and the armed forces to let off steam. He reveals that Republican political candidates in the US were assisted in elections against anti-Apartheid Democrats. He shows that South Africa supplied Argentina with weapons during the Falklands War and that Harold Wilson's surprising outbursts, when he claimed that South African intelligence agents were trying to bring down his government, were based on hard evidence. At operational level, South African Intelligence had intimate links with counterparts in the CIA, British Intelligence, and other agencies worldwide.Apartheid's Friends not only provides an insight into a dark area of South Africa's past, it is also an important contribution to the international history of secret service.
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Editorial Reviews
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'Middleton shares his passion for the terrain, the wildlife and the human interaction ... His visit to the man-made ecological disaster of the Aral Sea and its sinister island provokeshis most heartfelt arguments.' -- Waterstone's Books Quarterly 20050501 'Nick Middleton, part Oxford don, part Indiana Jones, enjoys travelling to extremes' -- Traveller magazine 20050501 'A generous handful of often hilarious and always self-deprecating anecdotes ... hugely gripping, sometimes moving, and bursting with a myriad of extraordinary and barely believable facts, Extremes Along the Silk Road is written proof of why we all wish Nick Middleton had been our geography teacher at school.' -- Global magazine 20050801 'He succeeds brilliantly ... Middleton has good stories to tell, and tells them very well.' -- Focus (Bristol) 20050701 'According to convention, explorers are tall, rugged, firm-jawed and taciturn. Think Captain Scott. Alternatively, they are ebullient and impossible to shut up, like Ray 'how to make dinner and a canoe out of three coconuts and some monkey dung' Mears. As an Oxford Don, explorer Nick Middleton is more a vague approximation of the Indiana Jones, academic adventurer type. He is 5ft 6in tall and wears specs, which are the bane of his life because they melt in the heat, snap in the cold or get eaten by insects! He is as surprised, wrong-footed or even disgusted as you or I would be when confronted by creepy-crawlies, mud or rotting seal. His travel books are wonderfully descriptive and evocative but they retain a strong tone of the Ordinary Joe; of Everyman discovering strange and amazing things and trying to have a laugh with the locals.' -- Daily Express 20050501 'An insightful and entertaining exploration of the relationships between people and nature. Middleton combines a traveller's passion with a geographer's knowledge and insight' -- Geographical Magazine 20050601 'This affable Oxford don has evolved his own brand of "extreme travel" ... one of the joys of reading Middleton is to see him confronting his phobias and fears ... credit must go to both author and publisher for creating something far more worthy than the average TV tie-in.' -- Wanderlust 20050601 'A magnificent insight into life in the extremes' -- Good Book Guide 20050701 'His travel books are wonderfully descriptive and evocative' -- Daily Express 20050501 'Each [essay] is an admirable work in its own right...an informative, enjoyable book' -- Adventure Travel Magazine 20060531 'An engaging insight into the lives of people who continue to survive in the harsh environments that make up this great historical trade route ... [The book] succeeds in portraying a far greater insight into the unforgiving territory he visits and sheer warmth of the people he meets ... crucially, he manages to maintain the right balance of personal experience' -- Birmingham Post 20050430 'Middleton has good stories to tell, and tells them very well' -- BBC Focus Magazine 20050701
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
About the Author
James Sanders has lectured at the school of Oriental and African Studies and is the author of South Africa and the International Media. He worked as researcher on Anthony Sampson's Mandela, and also on J.D.F. Jones's life of Laurens van der Post, and has contributed to major British, American and South African publications. He lives in Worcestershire.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Off-the-beaten-track travel writing at its best,
By
This review is from: Extremes Along the Silk Road: Adventures Off the World's Oldest Superhighway (Paperback)
Dr Nick Middleton is an allegedly upper-middle-class, seemingly soft-living geographer who has travelled and explored more than 70 countries and published books (as sole writer) going back as far as 1988.
However, "soft-living" is not a phrase that could be used to describe his exploits into the world's harshest - truly harshest - environments. With an extremely (pun intended) engaging personality which is more apparent in the Channel Four programmes he's made than in his writing - Nick scribes with a sense of humility and honesty, but beyond explaining his motivations for going to such extreme locales never alludes to any personal details - meaning his books reveal little behind the man, the preference being to concentrate on travel and the environments themselves. This makes for objective correspondence, but also provides an enigma to the man behind it - a point, perhaps, that makes his work so totally engrossing and leaves you wanting, or rather needing, more. The style with which he writes is far more accessible than that of say Jack London or Henry David Thoreau (okay, so Nick is contemporary - there lyeth the answer - but even so, he could, but doesn't, add any pretence) without elaborate allegories, but is also infinitely more enchanting than a lot of the more modern day off-the-beaten-track travel writers. As a younger end Thirty Something, I always prefer the to see the middle aged exploring and writing about this type of travel, and along with Michael Palin, Nick Middleton is now well and truly a favourite. Of the younger generation of travel writer, I think only Simon Reeve comes close. All in all, Nick Middleton's books on Extremes are truly fascinating works of brilliance. I only wish he'd cover some of the more anthropogenic extremes like Bhopal, Chernobyl (which he has said is on his list, but which is - unfortunately - no longer off-the-beaten-path, being as it's now a tourist attraction) The Banqioa Dam, Goianas, etc, as he did with Voz Island (Rebirth Island) in this book. Many thanks Nick, congratulations on your first child.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Poor Editing, Great Book,
This review is from: Apartheid's Friends: The Rise and Fall of South Africa's Secret Service (Paperback)
This is a fantastic political, sociological, and security history of South Africa during the apartheid era. It says a lot about why the country is the way it is today. The only place this book falls short is in the editing. In places it was so bad that a reader stumbles over phrasing, dates, or information.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Adventure so Grand,
By hdtravel (USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Extremes Along the Silk Road: Adventures Off the World's Oldest Superhighway (Paperback)
This old chap visits some really out of the way places you won't read about in many books.
He visits places out in the sticks and way off the normal tourist routes. This is quite a fascinating read and provides amazing insight into the ancient "Silk Road." Enjoy !
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