Historical tie-in to the book reviewed

Biko - Donald Woods
On this day 29 years ago Steve Biko was killed. Biko was a leader of the Black Consciousness movement in South Africa, a medical student and perhaps the most eloquent speaker of his time. I read the transcript of his trial for a paper in undergrad (for an African History Class) and it was one of the most well planned and well spoken legal arguments I've read. Certainly Mandela's trial transcripts, or his accounts of them at least, were very interesting (and of course eloquent) - but they were from a different time historically as well as ideologically. Biko's biography, written by Donald Woods, covers the Steve Biko's story - but fails to capture the fire in quite the same way as his actual words from the trial. You certainly get the idea that the two men were very closely connected in their struggle - but as with the works of other white South Africans during apartheid (Coetzee and Gordimer come to mind, although they are both amazing writers) the disconnect between the formative experiences of each racial group becomes a barrier that is hard to surmount. Biko's death in a Pretoria prison became a rallying cry for a generation of South Africans, and although Woods was a part of the story - his escape from the country (or even that he could escape) distanced him from the struggle he longed to identify with. The Black Consciousness movement enabled the following generation to fight apartheid on moral grounds, and succeed.

Rating: B+

Related:
Long Walk to Freedom - Mandela
A Force More Powerful - Peter Ackerman
The Power of One - Bryce Courtenay (also a good movie)

Movie version of Biko: Cry Freedom (A-)