Ruth First – författare

A committed communist and anti-apartheid activist, Ruth First dedicated her life to African liberation struggles until her assassination by South Africa's Special Branch in 1982. The Barrel of a Gun establishes First's position in the canon of postcolonial revolutionary thought.Published originally in 1970, The Barrel of a Gun is the book Frantz Fanon might have written had he not died in his thirties. First examines one of the most troubling and complicated phenomena in postcolonial Africa - the coup d'état. She presents detailed accounts of the coups in Nigeria, the Sudan and Ghana, as well as examining the role of the army in Algeria and Egypt. Written at a time when the fervor of decolonization and independence was receding, and the vulnerabilities and violent realities of postcolonial state power were becoming manifest, this book remains a foundational work on postcolonial coups and state power.

'Her life and her death remain a beacon to all who love liberty' NELSON MANDELAAn unforgettable account of defiance against political terror by one of South Africa's pioneering anti-apartheid activists.'In prison you see only the moves of the enemy. Prison is the hardest place to fight a battle.'117 Days is Ruth First's personal account of her detention under the iniquitous '90-day' law of 1963. There was no warrant, no charge and no trial - only suspicion.This sparsely written and unique record tells of her experiences of solitary confinement, constant interrogation and instantaneous re-arrest on release - lightened by humorous portraits of governors, matrons, wardresses and interrogators, seen as the tools of the police state. This is the story of the war of nerves that ensued between First and her Special Branch captors-a work that remains a classic portrait of oppression and the dignity of the human spirit.