Friday, July 29, 2011

Iconoclasm, Van Zyl Slabbert, car-lot capitalism, Jimi Hendrix


Over a period of several years around the turn of this century I was given a series of non-fiction books, The Low Countries - on the Netherlands and Belgium - to review. In one the issue of iconoclasm proved fascinating. In this post there is also a piece I wrote for the Herald looking back at Frederik van Zyl Slabbert's The Last White Parliament. I also reviewed a delightful book about a Scotsman going to the US to discover the essence of capitalism. I conclude with a piece on a childhood hero, Jimi Hendrix.



This review appeared in the Herald on July 24, 2002. The story of how religious icons were destroyed gave me the idea for my satirical novel, Azanian Apocalypse, which can be found online by simply googling those words. You can either buy the book, or if you search long enough, find the whole thing on a blog. I know what I would do. (Please click on the text to see it at a readable size.)



As a young adult, Frederik van Zyl Slabbert became a hero to many liberal white South Africans. Here was an Afrikaner prepared to stick his neck out in the name of justice. Dr Slabbert died quite recently. The piece continues below.


The concluding part of the Slabbert article.



I found the book, California Dreaming, by Lawrence Donegan, delightful. This appeared in the Herald sometime in 2002.



This piece appeared in the Leisure supplement of the Weekend Post on September 14, 2002. It has been scanned in two parts, so will take some navigating to read. After this and a couple of other pieces I did on the rock legends of my youth, I devoted several years to putting together a blog, Global Rock Legends, which has had over 120 000 hits. Just google those three words and youj'll find it. Sadly the link from this site isn't working at the mo.



The bottom half of the Hendrix piece.

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