This study of contemporary South Africa focuses thematically on the major political contestants, interest-groups and power-brokers in that country. The contributors, several of whom have first-hand experience of the South African problem, attempt to provide from varied perspectives - ranging from the Afrikaner establishment to the exiled liberation movements - an introduction to aspects of contemporary South African politics and an insight into its many forms of resistance.

Sam Jameson, eight years old at the time of his father George's death, decides, some forty years later, to go through the box of his father's papers which his mother had passed on to him. In trying to piece together the life of a parent he never really knew, Sam discovers a sensitive, inherently kind but insecure man. George has seemingly spent his working life as a native commissioner conscientiously carrying out his duties, but has never quite been able to come to terms with the white man's place in Africa. As his doubts deepen he is overwhelmed by despair.