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For Whites Only
Back Cover Text: The world of apartheid was so perverse that if I could have been given the choice to be a very clever black kid or a very stupid white kid, if I wanted to live a good life I might have been well advised to choose being a stupid white kid. During apartheid, the cleverest black kid was likely not to achieve a quality of life that the dumbest white kid could achieve. Everything in South Africa seems to be about race. If you look back into the country s history, you ll see that it always was that way. Ours is a country defined by race, but there is one race that had the choice to make it that way. Heading for fifteen years into democracy, South Africa seems to be even more about race than ever. The rainbow nation sometimes seems more like a technicolour dreamcoat - after Joseph s brothers dipped it in blood. This book has been written for all the whites who still secretly, or not so secretly, believe that the reason our country is going to hell is because of blacks. Read this book - our country was hell. With every year that s passed since 1994, it has edged further from the flames. We re all still carrying our lighters though. In his distinctive style - sarcastic, poetic, at times shockingly direct, and often funny - Charles Cilliers has written the book about white racism that whites didn t want to see, but could do well to read. If they don t, then South Africa will perhaps continue to be about race for a long time to come - but whites, the very people who made it that way, and who now don t seem to want to talk about it much, are still the ones who can make that less so - if only we realised it. One of the most controversial books of the year, For Whites Only casts a light on the blackest days of whiteness, and encourages us all to clean out the skeletons we have in our collective closet.
265 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2008
About the author
Charles Cilliers
6 books10 followersCharles Cilliers was born in 1979 and wrote his first novel when he was 18. The gods, in their wisdom, made his hard drive crash so no one would ever have to read it - and then made sure he was sent to do a master's degree in creative writing at UCT, which involved creating a story about a bunch of people who all dream about being murdered by the same serial killer. The gods allowed that story to survive.
After that, he published his first book, a true story about Gayton McKenzie, a hardened gangster who'd spent 10 years in prison. He has since written other books and has had short fiction published in Something Wicked, Bookly and online soon Wordsmack Publishers. He currently works as books editor at City Press in Johannesburg, where he's paid for his efforts, for the most part, in free books. The rest of the time, he's a subeditor, for which he's paid in money.
His most recent work, the short story A Grain of Sand, has recently been published on Amazon Kindle and follows a brilliant mathematician as he fulfils his most gruesome destiny.
After that, he published his first book, a true story about Gayton McKenzie, a hardened gangster who'd spent 10 years in prison. He has since written other books and has had short fiction published in Something Wicked, Bookly and online soon Wordsmack Publishers. He currently works as books editor at City Press in Johannesburg, where he's paid for his efforts, for the most part, in free books. The rest of the time, he's a subeditor, for which he's paid in money.
His most recent work, the short story A Grain of Sand, has recently been published on Amazon Kindle and follows a brilliant mathematician as he fulfils his most gruesome destiny.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 14, 2010
Bra Charles is a skhokho(modern intellectual). The book is a must have for all literate people and then it must be a compulsory prescribed work for school curriculum for Life Sciences subjects from Grade R to LLM,Msc etc. It is a book that WILL be recommended for aspiring political leadership in South Africa because not many would make entry requirements at any Political or Developmental Science 101 classes in tertiary institutions in SA.Furthermore if one reads this book, you then realise that there will be no "TOUCHING ON MY STUDIO" or "TJATJARAG" citizens because it informs the conscience as well.Well...at least whites in this country can have what is rightfully theirs.Mr Visagie is gonna love this book but then the AWB must make sure he does not set his eyes on it or they will have camps in their organisation the book can be convincing.This is a book in the league of Satanic Verses by Salman Rashdie.It is a must read book before the Constitution is changed and it is removed from the shelves like Satanic Verses...bye
June 25, 2009
if u are a young black south african or non south african, i recommend this book. and if u want to understand where south african comes from, pls do read the book, if gives u a clear picture, at least painted by a young white person.
November 22, 2016
This is a very good book, interesting take on Sothern Africa
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews