The biography of a politician who played a profound role in the history of the African National Congress, this account follows Kader Asmal from his beginnings as the son of a small-town shopkeeper in Natal through his exile in the UK and his rise to Cabinet minister under Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki. Honoring Asmal’s lifelong dedication to freedom, equality, and justice—ideals enshrined in the country’s Bill of Rights, which he played a major part in writing—this memoir is also the story of South Africa’s transition from apartheid to freedom and democracy.

Adrian Hadland is a former foreign correspondent, a columnist, and a political editor with more than 15 years of experience. He has served on the South African Press Ombudsman’s Appeal Panel and has consulted for both the United Nations and the World Bank. He is the author of Advertising in the News: Paid-for Content and the South African Print Media and Re-Visioning Television: Policy, Strategy, and Models for the Sustainable Development of Community Television in South Africa.