This collection of essays presents 15 case studies of African countries whose recent past has been shaped by conflict. It examines the historical roots of violence and the potential for reconciliation and justice. It offers the chance to learn about the experiences of communities and nations that are struggling to build a peaceful, prosperous future.

South Africa's amnesty was a unique experiment. A path that lay 'between a Nuremberg option and total amnesia,' the amnesty process was designed in the heat of a remarkable and complex transition to constitutional democracy. Perpetrators from all sides of the conflict were asked to reveal what they did and why. According to the TRC, this equation of truth for amnesty promised not forgetting or impunity, but an important picture of the past - stories and testimony that could help the nation to 'sharpen its moral conscience and to ensure that, never, never again, will it gradually atrophy to the point where personal responsibility is abdicated.' Amnesty's challenge was to 'develop public awareness, to keep the memories alive, not only of gross violations of human rights, but of everyday life under apartheid.'