Cry Freedom

by Rowena Akinyemi, John Briley (Original Author)

They said Steve Biko was a man of violence; then why did he talk of peace? They said he wanted revolution; so why did he talk of friendship? They said he died of hunger; why was his body broken and bruised? This is the story of a man's fight with the government of South Africa. It is the story of all people who prefer truth to lies. It is the story of all people who cry 'Freedom', and who are not afraid to die.

Genres: Nonfiction, School, History, Politics, Biography, Africa, Classics

108 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

Rowena Akinyemi is British, and after many years in Africa, she now lives and works in Cambridge. She was worked in English Language Teaching for twenty years, in Africa and England, and has been writing ELT fiction for ten years. Love or money? Was her first story for the Oxford Bookworms Library, and she has now written several other stories for the series, including Remeber Miranda and The Witches of Pendle (both at Stage 1). She has also written books for children. One of her favourite pastimes is reading detective stories.

Reviews

[Arend Verschueren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Donald Woods is a liberal journalist and publisher in South Africa, he wrote an article about a mister named Biko where he got a lot of bad reviews on. He was advised to visit King Wiliams town. Biko’s neighbourhood. It was the beginning of the friendship between Donald and Biko. Biko took big risks to let Donald understand how the black world is. The sentence: “We believe in God and He knew what He did when He created the black men and the white men”. These words impressed Donald the most and from then, he shared the passion to create an equal South-Africa. After he created an article about the town, someone broke into the pressroom. A witness recognized detective De Wet. Woods went to the minister of police cases with it. The minister promised to do the case himself but he is very corrupt. Woods had to give the witnesses name but off course he didn’t. As revenge kidnapped the police Mapetla and Tenjy, two black employees of Woods. A week later Donald hears that Mapetla hanged herself. Tenjy explained to the judge that she got strangled. The judge said no one’s guilty. A few days later Biko got killed to and again the judge said no one was guilty. He got an amazing funeral where thousands of people came to. Woods was getting followed for 5 more years until he and his family ran away…

I thought the book was interesting but sometimes very boring.

I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in politics and wants to know more about it.

[Dario Goedtkindt · Rating 4 out of 5]

I became interested because of the blurb and decided directly i wanted to read it. I like the book because it’s a non-fiction story and the words in the book are not hard to read. That made it an easy book to go through in a few hours. For me, the story was allowed to be longer and more indepth. You get the facts about what happened with Stephen Biko the activist who comes up for the equality of black and white in South Africa. The other head character is a journalist named Donald Woods. It’s sad you don’t go in their heads and really see what’s going on in there. You feel that it’s leaning to the full story but because it’s a learning Oxford University Bookworm book for English students you just feel it isn’t totally complete that’s just one point i didn’t like about the book. For the rest was the book really interesting like i told before and for sure gonna see the movie and probably try to read the full book because i really want to see and read the full story. The part when he is in the court of justice and he is defending himself and discussing against the government is the part that will stay with me. This was my review and i really suggest the book.

[Noor Lambrechts · Rating 4 out of 5]

when I got the book at first I did not really suspect what the book would be or what it would be about. The book is based on a true story and those types of books I like more. The book obviously is not that much pages so for me it did not take that long to read the hole book on time. Because this book is meant to be easier and shorter you miss some information. I would like to read the original book because I like this book already so the original would be more in-depth. In the beginning of the book I didn’t really understand what was going on but if you keep reading you will understand. Sometimes the book was a little bit boring but overall I like the book and I really recommend this book for you.
The journalist Donald woods wrote an article about a person named Biko. A lot of people disliked the article. The article got a lot of bad reviews on it. After al the bad reviews woods went to the place where Biko lived there they started talking and they became friends. They shared the same idea of trying to make south-Africa equal.
My conclusion if you are bored and you have a few free hours read this book it’s a good book and I recommend it.

[Boonthrall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Han mehrmals welle ga go es paar chöpf abschruube

[Riaz Ujjan · Rating 5 out of 5]

We are in struggle not to kill someone but to kill the idea that one kind of man is better than another kind of man.
Story of Steve Biko, who wanted change in South Africa through peaceful means, however, he was treated as violent and was tortured to death. His story is narrated by an editor, who even being white, also faced difficulties for standig with the Biko.

[Rune Demolder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cry freedom is a book about a white south African journalist and publisher Donald Woods
Donald Woods is a liberal that publishes a lot of articles about racism and violence
But one day he published a notorious article about Steve Biko a Charismatic Black rights Activist.
He gets a lot of negative reviews and eventually somebody comes to him to suggests he should visit Steve Biko himself.
These events spiral into him becoming good friends with Steve Biko and learning more about the black culture of South Africa and the state they live in
This leads to Woods becoming impressed and he starts supporting Biko’s movement

The story itself is a true story which made me look up most of the characters and made me think twice about the state of south Africa
The book itself is well written and gave me a good overview of what happened throughout the story even to some parts where cut out.
Alto this book is only a dumbed down version of the original I would recommend it for the non-English as a learning experience
For reading time it can be read in less then a day so its not that long of a book

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro (está adaptación del original), muy bueno para practicar y mejorar el inglés. Al mismo tiempo que puedes aprender de una maravillosa historia de lucha por los derechos civiles y la igualdad entre seres humanos.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

An eye-opening account of apartheid.

[Marina · Rating 2 out of 5]

Tiene tela que me hayan mandado leer este librito para clase justo ahora, con la que está cayendo.

[Sol Fernandez · Rating 3 out of 5]

3,5 me tocó el alma

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart-wrenching.

[Albs · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a really interesting book that makes someone aware of a lil part of black history.
It's a but slow at some point and you migjt get bored but it's actually a nice read.
I hope one day we will be able to really have the equality that minorities are fighting for

[Cleah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Important story with below mediocre execution. Someone should remind simplified edition writers that they just need to simplify the language - not spell out every idea for dummies leaving nothing to intepret with students.

[Giulia Roten · Rating 3 out of 5]

I trink the Book is okay Blut definitely Not a Book I would read out of my own will. It is as well not my Favorit gendre.
Positive is the story is kept short, so it’s practical for infos for school.
But there are to much similar names ( I know the book is based on a real story but still)

[Timotei · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good for learners of English. Written with simplified English. Amazing story though and matches the film.

[Leila · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the top 5 books I've ever read.

[Judit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Principi aborridissim però final bé

[Sky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Donald Woods is a bisexual king, change my mind.

[Ula · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was 100% on me to have expected a good read when this is nothing but a lengthy version of the plot of the movie, but a fun read nevertheless

[Steph W · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant true story that should be more well known, however the structure of how the novel was written was poor and not well written

[Liberté · Rating 3 out of 5]

With a degree of poetic license (how could he know the last sound Biko heard?) Briley tells the story of Steve Biko and Donald Woods, two men who fought for an end to apartheid in South Africa. While Biko's story is compelling, it is also easy to see how Woods and his wife Wendy came so quickly over to his side, already ascribing to a liberal viewpoint. The irony in Woods, at the start, agreeing with Biko's banning comes full circle when he himself becomes a banned person. The restrictions on freedom of speech, free association, and the outright abuse of humans by the police and justice system in South Africa is illustrated faithfully, as is Biko's commitment to non-violent resolution. As a libertarian, however, it is difficult to agree completely with Biko, as he insists that one racial culture is "superior" to another racial culture, if only in some respects. As a libertarian, it is not one racial culture that is superior to another, but a culture of ideas that produces a freer and more prosperous society. Hence Biko's critiques of black society as being superior in that all their songs are about community and that the families share all property make one balk as a libertarian, for the idea that any action can be collection, or that an idea can be collective -- as opposed to many individuals acting together -- contradicts the very idea of the individual being the basic unit of society. Stepping back, however, the differences pale in the larger scheme, where it is clear once again it is not "white culture" versus "black culture", but a culture of government supremacy, where the law is final and can be bent to a single group's will, black or white. Historically relevant, the instances of police abuse make one think of increasing police abuses in modern society, where the will of government bureaucrats in one issue or another - drugs, sex, work - enforce themselves at the barrel of a policeman's gun. Absolutely worth reading, with a sense of history and context in mind.

[Lovro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Osvrt:

Cry Freedom je priča o strašnim okolnostima u kojima je živjelo crnačko stanovništvo Južne Afrike sve do kasnog 20. stoljeća. Priča ovdje služi kao medij kojim pisac opisuje stanje u kojem su se crnci našli, taj dio knjige je vrlo dobro odrađen. Jasno je prikazano koliko je situacija bila loša, odnosno koliko se okrutno bijelačko stanovništvo odnašalo prema crncima. Poruka je jasna i temeljita, a čitatelja se kvalitetno informira o temi. Moj problem s ovom knjigom, odnosno razlog zašto za ovu ocjenu je nedostatak nekakve 'umjetničke težine'. Radnja mi stvarno nije bila zanimljiva i čitanje mi je zato bilo dosadno. Iako je pisac uspio poslati kvalitetnu poruku, radnja je sama po sebi vrlo generična, a način pisanja vrlo sirov. Moguće da je to zato što sam pročitao blago skraćenu verziju za lektiru iz engleskog, ali čini mi se da ni s pravom verzijom ne bih bio toliko oduševljen što se tiče načina pisanja i radnje. Naravno da ima par zanimljivih i domišljatih preokreta tokom čitanja, ali sve u svemu mi se to činilo poprilično monotono.

[Purley College · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nadia Khochay

I was inspired to open this book after reading the blurb. It was not because the book was supposed to be funny or entertaining but because I was expecting to read a true story about strong-willed people.
The story teaches you how to be confident, believe in yourself and do not give up reaching for your goal. It does not matter who you are and what nationality you are, you always need to remain a human being and remember that you have the same or even greater potential and capability as others.
If you admire historical stories I suggest you don't miss reading about this significant event from the past.

[Jennifer B. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am ashamed to say that I knew nothing about this true story. My knowledge of South African history is shamefully little. This book was just an abridged version of the story of "Bantu" Stephen Biko and the journalist Donald Woods, made for learners of English. Therefore, it was pretty lean, just telling the bare facts of the story. In simple language and just over 100 pages, you don't get into the protagonists' heads, and you don't know their backstory. However, it is clearly enough to get one interested, at least it did me!

For an advanced learner of English, it is a good book to read. Glossary and reading comprehension activities included at the end.

[Susana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yeah this contains Spoilers so if you don't read the book some of the things that I say might shock you.

I really liked this book because as a non-english speaker the book was simple and easy to understand. It goes around a editor of a newspaper called Donald Woods that makes a newspaper about a boy called Steve Biko and since the paper didn't go that well he decided to go to Biko's house and they became best friends.

The part that most shocked me was chapter 4 " The system fights back" when Mapetla and Biko killed themselves in prison and Woods has the charges for that and needs to escape the country.

As a person that doesn't read this type of books I thought that is going to be worse.

[May · Rating 4 out of 5]

That book was really amazing for me. I never read books which is written by English and make me finish with in 3 days before. (You know! How difficult when you read some good book and those books aren’t written by your mother tough? )

I am the one who don’t like to read politic books but of course I can read every book. But I feel “ cry freedom” doesn’t like politic books but also it was base on the real situation at that time. I hate the war and I hope we should have the kind of that both people more in our world.

[Bunsong Heng]

One of the extraordinary book, that I've never ever read before, which reveals the bravery revolutionary in order to bring together black and white people.... It is emotionally ended with the unfair death of the main character (Steve Biko), a black community leader. However, Biko's best friend, Donald Woods to hardly and bloodily overcomes the South African government, which never endlessly malice the black people. Finally, Woods successfully brought Biko's dream turn to the truth, as to bring peace and freedom to all black people in South Africa.

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an amazing book..I didn't know any of the names so I checked online to make sure they were real people, and the Steven Biko looked familiar..not that I would have remembered him coz I was too young..but the things he had done were brave and the cruel things done to him I should say were shocking but sad to say it happens all too often..If you get the chance to read this book please do so..I intend to try and find other books similar to this one.

[Simone · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a powerful account of the life of 2 amazing human beings. Steve Biko, a non-violent, black South African warrior in the fight against apartheid and white journalist Donald Woods. You do get angry reading this but you also can't help to be inspired by the spirit and courage of people like Steve and Donald. A fantastic read.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a young reader, I can see this book getting 4 or 5 stars. It's a pretty simple edition of the original. But the pace is pretty quick with a good amount of action. Also, teaches a very valuable lesson along the way.