THE INHERITORS

A contemporary look at South Africa’s White supremacy in action.

Pulling together more than a dozen stories of South Africans from a variety of racial and ethnic backgrounds, Fairbanks—a former political writer for the New Republic who has contributed pieces for the New York Times, Washington Post, and other outlets—paints a sensitive, often engrossing portrait of the nation during and after apartheid. “I sometimes like to tell people recent South African history loosely collapses two hundred and fifty years of American history into about thirty—from our antebellum era into our future,” she writes. While the author focuses on three people—anti-apartheid activist Dipuo, her daughter Malaika, and former army recruit and proud Afrikaans lawyer Christo—the many other narrative strands sometimes trail into tangents, not all of which are relevant. The beginning of the book is somewhat disorienting, as the author does little to ground readers in the overall context. Some of the sections of the text are engaging, while others are dry and detached despite the moving nature of the topic. The most memorable parts of the book involve Dipuo and Malaika, both of whom emerge as incredibly strong, even heroic characters. While the author’s depth of detail into their lives is important when considering the tumultuous atmosphere in which they live, some readers may be startled by the candid discussions of assault and rape. Though these passages are necessary to convey the gravity of the situations, they will likely distress unguarded readers suffering from their own trauma. The scope of the author’s research is impressive, and she is to be commended for taking care to thoroughly and compassionately expose apartheid and the many complex effects that ripple out to everyday people, demonstrating appropriate nuance while allowing no space for the tolerance of oppression. Though the narrative is disjointed in places, readers won’t soon forget Dipuo and Malaika.

A thoughtful and informative work that could have benefitted from a more cohesive structure.