The Sword and the Pen

Allister Sparks joined his first newspaper at age 17 and was pitched headlong into the vortex of South Africa's stormy politi. His autobiography, The Sword and the Pen: Six decades on the political frontier, is the story of how as a journalist he watched and chronicled and participated in his country's unfolding drama for over half a century, covering events from the premiership of DF Malan to the presidency of Jacob Zuma, and witnessing at close range the rise and fall of apartheid and the rise