I received this book free from LibraryThing's Early Reviewer program. The authors wanted to show how people are adapting to the post apartheid society in South Africa. They worked with researchers and outreach programs to enroll 7 persons from the three major racial groups in South Africa: Black, Coloured and White. Some black people are doing well in the new society and others are still living in extreme poverty, due to policies put in place under apartheid. Based upon this book, the government has done a great deal; providing old age pensions for everyone, child support payments for single parents and housing/clean water for millions of people. But there are still millions of people living in extreme poverty.
Reading about the extreme poverty was depressing. I have one complaint. There is a missing footnote, Chapter 6, p 132, footnote 6. Footnotes at the back of the book for chapter 6 stop at footnote 5.
However, I believe that this book is a solid 4 stars out of 5. It would be suitable for college courses and lay readers.

An awesomely written, awesomely researched, and, perhaps most important, awesomely timely read. I love reading nonfiction to learn new things, and I won't lie – when I received this book in the mail and read the dust jacket, I was slightly afraid I had gotten my hands on a mini-textbook of sorts. But how wrong was I (at least, about the negative connotations of "textbook")! The book presented stories, not as complete representations generalizing the entire post-apartheid experience, but as windows into a mansion of experience. I, coming from a background of knowing little to nothing about the subject, gained a lot of knowledge (as was my goal), but also I felt this book opened my eyes as a citizen. An incredible read, highly recommended.

Apartheid ended almost exactly twenty years ago, but its effects are still palpable. Here the authors have pulled together the stories of a diverse set of seven people living in post-apartheid South Africa.

It's a smart book, starting with the selection of participants. This isn't a random group -- they were chosen based on race, class, gender, and political view (among, presumably, other factors). The authors don't make the mistake of treating these individuals as representatives of their class/race/etc., but rather treat them as examples of how the end of apartheid has affected different people from different walks of life.

Each individual is treated as something of a case study -- we don't get full biographies, and there isn't a linear narrative or question of, chronologically, 'what happened next?' Instead we see Brandon's loss of tangible financial benefits associated with being White (capitalised per the book); Daniel's success, which would have been impossible (or close to) during apartheid; Thandwisa's lost and unavailable opportunities. Their stories are told separately, one after another, but with periodic links back to other subjects to make the connections clearer. Add to that dozens of supplemental interview and statistics (read the endnotes!) to give a broader picture, and you have a really interesting, complex look at the way the end of apartheid has changed things in, and for, South Africa.

Although it isn't within the scope of the book, in some of the cases I wished there were full-length works about the participants -- Suzanne sounds like she'd have some intense stories to tell.

I received a free copy of this book via a Goodreads giveaway.