War of Words: Memoir of a South African Journalist [Hardcover]

Benjamin Pogrund (Author), Harold Evans (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 7, 2000

When Benjamin Pogrund, one of South Africa's most distinguished journalists, first began his career as a young reporter in the 1950s, "There had been little reason at that stage to believe that anything revolutionary was about to start."
As the "African affairs reporter," and then deputy editor, it was Pogrund who first brought the words of black leaders like Robert Sobukwe and Nelson Mandela to the pages of South Africa's leading newspaper, the Rand Daily Mail. This was the period of apartheid in South Africa and for most of the next thirty years, the Rand Daily Mail was the country's liberal white voice against the tyranny of the Afrikaner Nationalist government.
A riveting memoir and a complex commentary on apartheid and freedom of the press, War of Words offers an insider's perspective on one of the most turbulent, and arguably one of the most significant, periods in modern history.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The Rand Daily Mail was the journalistic conscience of apartheid South Africa, and Pogrund, who worked at the newspaper from 1958 until it was closed in 1985, was its specialist on black politics. His worthy but dry memoir focuses on professional more than personal history, detailing how the newspaper aimed to resist censorship, spot-light oppression and prepare readers for change while covering the momentous events of the 1960s and the years following. As a college student in Cape Town, Pogrund made his first contacts across racial lines; he also concluded that communism was no alternative to apartheid. As a journalist, he put in time at black political meetings, gaining insight and earning trust--so much so that he received phone calls from Nelson Mandela when the black leader was in hiding. Resisting restrictions on reporting, Pogrund produced a 1965 series on South African jail conditions that shocked the world. The Mail forged on until it was closed by its owners (establishment businessmen who grew uncomfortable with the paper's finances and politics)--and Pogrund has set the historical record straight by getting them to acknowledge their shortsightedness. He describes his professional ethos as "dispassionate"--he sought to avoid judgment in news articles while expressing more of a viewpoint in his feature articles. His resistance to advocacy journalism deserves more reflection here, as does his close friendship with black leader Robert Sobukwe, who is barely mentioned. Pogrund, who briefly mentions his "private passion" for the preservation of political documentary material, is a more interesting personality than he lets on. Photos not seen by PW. (Apr.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Pogrund recalls South Africa's slide into the last terrible years of the Afrikaner nationalist government, beginning with the police shooting of 69 unarmed blacks at Sharpeville in March 1960, which resulted in the State of Emergency. He unfolds three stories: South Africa's; that of Johannesburg's Rand 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 its perspective and detail, this book effectively complements Pogrund's two earlier works, Nelson Mandela: Strength and Spirit of a Free South Africa and How Can Man Die Better: Sobukwe and Apartheid. Recommended for collections on South Africa, apartheid, race relations, and journalism.
-Thomas J. Davis, Arizona State Univ., Tempe
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Seven Stories Press (March 7, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1888363711
• ISBN-13: 978-1888363715
• Product Dimensions: 6.2 x 1.2 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,674,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a journalist's view of apartheid, September 11, 2001

By 

Rebecca Brown "rebeccasreads" (Clallam Bay, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: War of Words: Memoir of a South African Journalist (Hardcover)

When the author began his career as a young reporter in the 1950s, the Rand Daily Mail was emerging as South Africa's leading newspaper. As the "African affairs reporter" he brought the words of black leaders like Robert Sobukwe & Nelson Mandela to the country & to the world.

If you've ever wondered about the history of South Africa & how apartheid grew; who were its villains & who its heroes you must pick up a copy of War of Words for it is also about the life & death of a newspaper, of freedom of speech as well as a memoir of minute increments of courage & endless years of determined resignation.

If you've ever wondered what living under unbridled racism was like read this book. It is strong stuff, rather like watching a sandstorm heading toward you, smothering out the light, turning everyone crazy until it too passes & there's a chance at a better tomorrow.

A fascinating, well-written & informative memoir from inside the belly of the beast as seen by one reporter who kept himself close to the fire.

5.0 out of 5 stars An Honest Reporter In a Difficult Place and Time, March 31, 2002

By 

Beth Fox "Beth A. Fox" (Los Angeles, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: War of Words: Memoir of a South African Journalist (Hardcover)

"War of Words" is the story of a courageous reporter and a brave newspaper in apartheid-era South Africa. After joining the Rand Daily Mail in 1958, author Benjamin Pogrund broadened the newspaper's coverage of "African affairs," reporting on facets of black South African life given short shrift by most "mainstream" newspapers.

It was no easy task to report the news while constrained by numerous, ever-expanding, secrecy laws. While the South Africa portrayed in this book was no Soviet Union - English-language newspapers, the Rand Daily Mail in particular, were able to criticize apartheid in the strongest terms - the expanding web of press restrictions prevented journalists from fully informing the public of what it needed to know. Perhaps the most interesting section of the book is the description of the Mail's attempt to report on horrifying conditions in South Africa's prisons, reportage which caused Pogrund to face criminal charges for violation of the Prisons Act. This type of reporting (and editing, by Laurence Gandar) took guts.

Although the book does not emphasize the personal life of the author, one nugget seemed to encapsulate what it must have been like to live in the South Africa of that time: Pogrund refers to having had to overcome "the nervous habit of glancing over our shoulders - the hallmark of South Africans . . ." Other books have also alluded to the strange atmosphere of a society where no one knows who is working for which security agency - and the Mail was apparently infiltrated with various spies. On that note, one of the most fascinating characters to make an appearance here is Hendrik van den Bergh, head of the Bureau for State Security (BOSS), which apparently had microphones in the Mail's offices. (van den Bergh also appears in "Rivonia's Children," the outstanding book about the sabotage trial in which Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life in prison, and is the star of "Inside BOSS, South Africa's Secret Service." Both are also worth reading and will give different perspectives on the same era.)

I have only two minor criticism of this book. First, Pogrund's evident shock at the "Muldergate" information scandal jars. Was it really such a surprise that a government which controlled the radio network would also seek surreptitiously to own a newspaper? To this American reader, Muldergate comes across as minor league. To be fair, however, the scandal was significant enough at the time to take down the Vorster government.

Second, Pogrund sometimes tells us more than we needed to know about feuds between Saan (South African Associated Newspapers) management and the Mail editorial staff. Yet, because this is a history of the Mail as much as the memoirs of Pogrund, some of that "inside baseball" was necessary - and the background did help to explain the machinations behind Saan's decision to close the Mail in 1985. The closure of the Mail, possibly as the result of a television channel deal by Saan with then-President P.W. Botha, left Pogrund "drained of energy and spirit."

This book is an unfailingly honest story of a brave journalist. Despite the criticisms above, I believe the book has earned 5 stars as a comprehensive, readable account of journalism under and against apartheid. I highly recommend it.

0 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars the daily courage, July 5, 2000

By 

knight, robin (london, england) - See all my reviews

This review is from: War of Words: Memoir of a South African Journalist (Hardcover)

see time-europe issue dated june 12 for a review i've written already