Dr Garth Benneyworth has notched up another landmark book review in the internationally acclaimed North-West University journal, New Contree.
He reviewed the text of Rusty Bernstein, entitled Memory against Forgetting, which covers the remarkable man’s memoir of a life in South African resistance politics from the late 1930s to the 1960s.
Lionel “Rusty” Bernstein was arrested at Liliesleaf Farm, Rivonia on 11 July 1963 and tried for sabotage, alongside Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and other leaders of the African National Congress and Umkhonto we Sizwe in what came to be known as the Rivonia Trial.
He was acquitted in June 1964 but was immediately rearrested. After being released on bail, he fled with his wife into exile, followed soon afterwards by their family.
The book also includes a foreword by the former President Thabo Mbeki, who says of the book: “The memory so eloquently contained in this book tells especially the younger generations of South Africans who live in the freedom that they should never forget that, indeed, that freedom was not free”.
Benneyworth says that it is essential for academics to participate in book reviews because “it’s part of academic citizenship and community engagement”.
For more details on Memory against Forgetting, go http://bit.ly/2MRVtSb
