A Life for Freedom

In this fascinating memoir, the anti-apartheid activist recounts his lifelong fight for emancipation and the years he endured in a South African prison.

From June 1963 to October 1964, ten antiapartheid activists were tried at South Africa's Pretoria Supreme Court. Standing among the accused were Nelson Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada, Walter Sisulu, was Denis Goldberg. Charged under the Sabotage and Suppression of Communism Acts for "campaigning to overthrow the government by violent revolution," Goldberg was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. The only white man convicted during the infamous Rivonia trial, he played a historic role in the struggle for justice in South Africa.


Goldberg grew up acutely aware of the injustice permeating his homeland. He joined the South African Communist Party and helped found the Congress of Democrats. But it was his role as an officer in the armed underground wing of the African National Congress that led to his life sentence—which left him behind bars for twenty-two years. While in prison, the dogma of apartheid imposed complete separation from his black comrades, a segregation that denied him both the companionship and the counsel of his fellow accused.


Recounted with humor and humility, Goldberg's story provides a sweeping overview of life in South Africa during and after apartheid. It also illuminates the experiences of the activists and oppressors whose fates were bound together.