Save the Beloved Country

In these 90 short newspaper pieces (and one poem) reprinted from the last two decades, the noted South African novelist ( Cry, the Beloved Country ), who died last year at the age of 85, comments on apartheid, its causes and effects, proponents and opponents. Presenting impressions of prime ministers Smuts, Verwoerd, Vorster and Botha, black African leaders Luthuli, Sobukwe, Tutu and Mandela, Paton criticizes Afrikaner nationalism, the ``unreliable English'' and ``the stupid kind of activism that demands everything NOW.'' He asks questions ``that lie heavily on one's mind and soul, day after day, year after year'': Is disinvestment effective? How can we prevent terror? Is South Africa worth fighting for? While keenly observed and well argued, many of these pieces are of historic rather than immediate interest. (Nov.)