Why Are They Weeping?: South Africans Under Apartheid

Detroit Free Press photographer Turnley's 100 startling color pictures convey the tragedy of South Africa in the most human terms. When he photographs South Africans at moments of domestic contact, one can sense how blacks are invisible to whitesa blond woman, portrayed here, seems oblivious to the stout servant who fastens her party dress. In wretched black townships, where the smoke of coal fires hangs over the shabby houses, children play on unpaved streets. Photographing from 1985 to 1987 (when the government revoked his work permit), Turnley captured scenes of daily life and, according to the book, put himself at risk to document the hostilities that broke out between white oppressors and black protesters. The lucid essay by New York Times correspondent Cowell traces the development of apartheid and the black protest movement, predicting that white repression and growing black anger have ``with ered faint hopes for a peaceful outcome to the nation's turmoil.'' (October)