Slumboy from the Golden City

Paul Joseph's memoir starts with his childhood in the slums of Johannesburg in the 1930s. His political awakening and activism began as a 15-year-old Indian in a racially segregated school. It continued with his commitment to the fight against an oppressive regime. He participated in virtually all the political campaigns including the passive resistance of the 1940s. In 1956 he was one of the 156 people accused of high treason by the Apartheid government alongside Nelson Mandela. He was among the first recruits into the armed wing of the ANC UmKhonto We Sizwe. With an eye for detail and extensive knowledge of South Africans across the racial and class divides, he documents one of the most significant struggles for liberation in the 20th century.