Asking For Trouble: The Autobiography Of A Banned Journalist – Donald Woods

Condition : Good, considering age.

Penguin, 1987, Medium-format Paperback – Memoirs – 373pp. Sticker damage.

The Powerful Memoirs of an Anti-Apartheid Hero. ‘Why was I, a fifth-generation white South African, editor for twelve years of one of the country’s longest-established newspapers, escaping in disguise in fear of political police?’ Donald Woods grew up in the midst of the Bomvanas, as the only white child. He spoke their language, Xhosa, with the same fluency as the Bomvanas. Naturally, his upbringing played a key role in Daniel Woods’ future. With no journalism degree available, Daniel Woods studied law, but reverted to journalism when he realised this was his only passion. In 1977, editor Donald Woods was silenced. After publicly opposing apartheid, he was banned from editing his newspaper, the Daily Dispatch, and writing his widely syndicated column. An open critic of the National Party and a firm supporter of the Black Consciousness Movement, Woods had waged a journalistic war against the government for many years. The death of Steve Biko, the movement’s founder, and the growth of personal attacks on Woods and his family finally compelled them to flee the country In this honest and eloquent account of his life in South Africa, Donald Woods recounts his legal training, his progress as a journalist and his advocacy of black rights. Asking for Trouble is an inspiring portrait of a courageous and uncompromising man at war with injustice.