A Burning Hunger: One Family’s Struggle Against Apartheid

by Lynda Schuster

If the Mandelas were the generals in the fight for black liberation, the Mashininis were the foot soldiers. Theirs is a story of exile, imprisonment, torture, and loss, but also of dignity, courage, and strength in the face of appalling adversity. Originally published in Great Britain to critical acclaim, A Burning One Family’s Struggle Against Apartheid tells a deeply moving human story and is one of the seminal books about the struggle against apartheid. This family, Joseph and Nomkhitha Mashinini and their thirteen children, became immersed in almost every facet of the liberation struggle—from guerrilla warfare to urban insurrection. Although Joseph and Nomkhitha were peaceful citizens who had never been involved in politics, five of their sons became leaders in the antiapartheid movement. When the students of Soweto rose up in 1976 to protest a new rule making Afrikaans the language of instruction, they were led by charismatic young Tsietsi Mashinini. Scores of students were shot down and hundreds were injured. Tsietsi’s actions on that day set in motion a chain of events that would forever change South Africa, define his family, and transform their lives. A Burning Hunger shows the human catastrophe that plagued generations of black Africans in the powerful story of one religious and law-abiding Soweto family. Basing her narrative on extensive research and interviews, Lynda Schuster richly portrays this remarkable family and in so doing reveals black South Africa during a time of momentous change.

Genres: South Africa, History, Nonfiction, Africa

472 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Worked as a foreign correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and the Christian Science Monitor in Africa, Central and South America, and the Middle East.

Reviews

[Muphyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant book on the struggle of one family, the Mashininis, under apartheid in South Africa, focussing on the Soweto uprisings in 1976 and life thereafter. It gives you some real insight into life in the townships, and the rawness and cruelty that went on. I was really fascinated!

Written from an American journalist's perspective, it's very well researched, and I think Schuster does a fantastic job portraying what went on behind the Soweto uprisings, and what the consequences were for those involved. Schuster tries not to be too biased, which is always hard but I think she walks the tight rope quite nicely. I read it when I was actually in South Africa last year, and I found it quite interesting that the white people I was in contact with there didn't think much of me reading such a book...

[K.L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know if I enjoyed this book because it was very personal in some ways, but it was a brilliant evocative read that I was completely unable to put down - and when I did it was only to Google history that I had forgotten I knew. An incredibly heart wrenching story yet heart warming too, and well worth a read to anyone - but especially to South Africans of my generation that were probably as unaware as I was of what was happening! Eye opening!!!