The Soft Vengeance of a Freedom Fighter

On April 7, 1988, Albie Sachs, an activist South African lawyer and leading member of the ANC, was car-bombed in Maputo, capital of Mozambique, by agents of South Africa's security forces. His right arm was blown off and he lost the sight of one eye. This intimate and moving account of his recovery captures the spirit of a remarkable man: his enormous optimism, his commitment to social justice, and his joyous wonder at the life that surrounds him.

In a new epilogue, Sachs gives a gripping insider's view of the major public events of the last decade--the election of Nelson Mandela, the formation of the Constitutional Court and Sachs's appointment as judge, and his own role on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Interwoven in the narrative are reflections on his private life, together with poignant passages about his family. "Was it worth it?" Sachs asks at end of his ordeal. His answer, in the form of this memoir, is an unforgettable and inspiring response to one of the most important revolutions of our era. His soft vengeance of the title is not in doing to those what they have done to him, but in creating a society where humanity and justice triumph over cruelty and racist division.