THE RIGHT BOOKS

William A. Rusher’s A Short Course on South Africa (Communications Distribution, Inc., 150 East 35th Street, New York, N.Y. 10016; $3 single copy, discounts for quantity) is a shortcut around the fever swamp into which most international commentators have stumbled and sunk. In February 1987, Rusher, in the company of 25 other journalists and scholars, made a two-week “Opinion Leaders’ Fact-Finding Tour of South Africa” sponsored by the World Media Association, an affiliate of Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church. “It was a whirlwind trip,” Rusher writes, “. . . But we managed to cover an immense amount of ground in South Africa, both geographically and politically, and I was able to update my understanding and impressions of that country based on seven previous trips spaced rather evenly over the quartercentury since 1962.” As stipulated in the WMA’s invitation, each participant afterward wrote an article on an aspect of the South African scene, for publication collectively in book form {Crossing the Rubicon, 1987, where the present work appears as a chapter). “My own contribution to the volume,” Rusher explains, “ran somewhat longer than most, because I thought it would be useful … to include a general description of South Africa’s history, its ethnic mix, and its current political problems.” When he had finished the job, he realized the utility of publishing the chapter independently, “as the short course on South Africa and its problems that I had long felt was so badly needed.”

According to a joke prevalent (if not popular) in South Africa, God, in the midst of creating the world, was confronted by representatives of the other countries, who considered that he had unduly favored South Africa in His allotment of finite natural riches. “You’ve given it,” they protested, “practically all the gold and all the diamonds, and the lion’s share of most of the other minerals.” “Yes,” God agreed, “but wait till you see the population it’s getting.”

CW

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Chilton Williamson Jr.

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William A. Rusher’s A Short Course on South Africa (Communications Distribution, Inc., 150 East 35th Street, New York, N.Y. 10016; $3 single copy, discounts for quantity) is a shortcut around the fever swamp into which most international commentators have stumbled and sunk. In February 1987, Rusher, in the company of 25 other journalists and scholars, made a two-week “Opinion Leaders’ Fact-Finding Tour of South Africa” sponsored by the World Media Association, an affiliate of Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church. “It was a whirlwind trip,” Rusher writes, “. . . But we managed to cover an immense amount of ground in South Africa, both geographically and politically, and I was able to update my understanding and impressions of that country based on seven previous trips spaced rather evenly over the quartercentury since 1962.” As stipulated in the WMA’s invitation, each participant afterward wrote an article on an aspect of the South African scene, for publication collectively in book form {Crossing the Rubicon, 1987, where the present work appears as a chapter). “My own contribution to the volume,” Rusher explains, “ran somewhat longer than most, because I thought it would be useful … to include a general description of South Africa’s history, its ethnic mix, and its current political problems.” When he had finished the job, he realized the utility of publishing the chapter independently, “as the short course on South Africa and its problems that I had long felt was so badly needed.”

According to a joke prevalent (if not popular) in South Africa, God, in the midst of creating the world, was confronted by representatives of the other countries, who considered that he had unduly favored South Africa in His allotment of finite natural riches. “You’ve given it,” they protested, “practically all the gold and all the diamonds, and the lion’s share of most of the other minerals.” “Yes,” God agreed, “but wait till you see the population it’s getting.”