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Dances with Devils: A Journalist's Search for Truth
For more than a decade, Jacques Pauw has traversed his native continent in pursuit of warlords and drug traffickers, child soldiers and charlatans, adventure and anarchy. What he found was a rich array of personalities and a panoply of stories, ranging from the profoundly tragic to the intensely personal. Pauw's stories range from South Africa to Rwanda, from Sierra Leone and the Sudan to Mozambique. Readers are taken behind the scenes of sensational news reports with compassion, humor and occasional cynicism and emerge in the knowledge that, even if it s true that there is nothing new out of Africa, the writer has found fresh ways to present time-honored tales of love, life, misery and mortality.
416 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2006
26 people are currently reading
210 people want to read
About the author
Jacques Pauw
9 books54 followersSouth African journalist and author Jacques Pauw was a founder member of the anti-apartheid Afrikaans newspaper Vrye Weekblad in the late 1980s, where he exposed the Vlakplaas police death squads.
He worked for some of the country’s most esteemed publications before becoming a documentary filmmaker, producing documentaries on wars and conflicts in Rwanda, Burundi, Algeria, Liberia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone, among other countries.
When he left journalism in 2014, he was the head of investigations at Media24 newspapers. He has won the CNN African Journalist of the Year Award twice, the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting in the US, Italy’s Ilaria Alpi and the Nat Nakasa award for bravery and integrity in journalism.
He is the author of five books: four nonfiction and one fiction. They are In the Heart of the Whore, Into the Heart of Darkness, Dances with Devils, Rat Roads and Little Ice Cream Boy. Three of his books have been shortlisted for major literary awards.
He worked for some of the country’s most esteemed publications before becoming a documentary filmmaker, producing documentaries on wars and conflicts in Rwanda, Burundi, Algeria, Liberia, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone, among other countries.
When he left journalism in 2014, he was the head of investigations at Media24 newspapers. He has won the CNN African Journalist of the Year Award twice, the Daniel Pearl Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting in the US, Italy’s Ilaria Alpi and the Nat Nakasa award for bravery and integrity in journalism.
He is the author of five books: four nonfiction and one fiction. They are In the Heart of the Whore, Into the Heart of Darkness, Dances with Devils, Rat Roads and Little Ice Cream Boy. Three of his books have been shortlisted for major literary awards.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 25, 2016
The reason I can indulge my dark love of true SA crime are the writers and reporters that provide the identities of the evil-doers , reports of the shocking events and, most of all, a place that ensures that the victims don’t pass from our memories.
Jacques Pauw is one of SA’s most widely known investigative journalists. His magic lies in his ability to investigate and uncover information, and then turn it into a story that is compulsively readable. “Dances with Devils” is a look back over Pauw’s experiences as a journalist from roughly 1986 to 2006 and provides key insight into some of the darkest crimes and most wicked criminals in SA’s history.
Starting with the death squads in SA – remember Vlakplaas, Dirk Coetzee and Eugene de Kock? The merciless butchering of enemies of the Apartheid government that was funded by the selling of illegal drugs, the running of a brothel, and other gangsterism? Well, Pauw is the guy who first exposed the death squads. And his telling of the story ran shivers up and down my spine…
This is only one part of a book that looks back at murderers, con artists, drug sellers – in fact, just about any crime you may not care to mention. All meticulously detailed, all reported in an exciting narrative that has the reader shaking alongside Pauw as he speaks to some of the most terrifying criminals in SA, past and present.
“Dances with Devils” is so comprehensive that it looks at crime across the border as well. Some of this is a result of SA’s booming crime export market; some is as a result of such horrific crimes in other countries that even the ripples have a large impact in SA.
This is a book that will make you shudder and make you grimace. And it will take hold of you until long after you have finished it. Read it. Experience it.
Jacques Pauw is one of SA’s most widely known investigative journalists. His magic lies in his ability to investigate and uncover information, and then turn it into a story that is compulsively readable. “Dances with Devils” is a look back over Pauw’s experiences as a journalist from roughly 1986 to 2006 and provides key insight into some of the darkest crimes and most wicked criminals in SA’s history.
Starting with the death squads in SA – remember Vlakplaas, Dirk Coetzee and Eugene de Kock? The merciless butchering of enemies of the Apartheid government that was funded by the selling of illegal drugs, the running of a brothel, and other gangsterism? Well, Pauw is the guy who first exposed the death squads. And his telling of the story ran shivers up and down my spine…
This is only one part of a book that looks back at murderers, con artists, drug sellers – in fact, just about any crime you may not care to mention. All meticulously detailed, all reported in an exciting narrative that has the reader shaking alongside Pauw as he speaks to some of the most terrifying criminals in SA, past and present.
“Dances with Devils” is so comprehensive that it looks at crime across the border as well. Some of this is a result of SA’s booming crime export market; some is as a result of such horrific crimes in other countries that even the ripples have a large impact in SA.
This is a book that will make you shudder and make you grimace. And it will take hold of you until long after you have finished it. Read it. Experience it.
April 13, 2019
His books just never dissapoint. Want a must read!!!!
July 21, 2022
This is a must read! I would recommend this book to any person, but even more so if you are, like Pauw, South African.
Pauw is well known in journalistic circles, and has won numerous awards. His book ‘Dances with Devils’ is his recounting of what he went through on his various journalistic missions. As a South African just about every chapter’s background was familiar to me. I distinctly remember some of the documentaries he refers to, having made an impression on me.
What makes this book special is Pauw’s ability to tell his stories in such an honest but dramatic way that the horror, injustice and many of society’s other downfalls really come alive between those pages. The genocide in Rwanda, the atrocities in Sierra Leone, drug trade in Mozambique, false prophets in Nigeria, and South Africa’s own apartheid death squads, all exposed.
What makes the book even more interesting to read is Pauw’s revelation of the goings on behind the scenes! The characteristics of people, the bribes paid, deceits etc are exposed. It is almost like having a highly sought after backstage pass where you are able to see much more than a well manicured show being put up.
A read that will most likely evoke some emotions, highly recommendable!
Pauw is well known in journalistic circles, and has won numerous awards. His book ‘Dances with Devils’ is his recounting of what he went through on his various journalistic missions. As a South African just about every chapter’s background was familiar to me. I distinctly remember some of the documentaries he refers to, having made an impression on me.
What makes this book special is Pauw’s ability to tell his stories in such an honest but dramatic way that the horror, injustice and many of society’s other downfalls really come alive between those pages. The genocide in Rwanda, the atrocities in Sierra Leone, drug trade in Mozambique, false prophets in Nigeria, and South Africa’s own apartheid death squads, all exposed.
What makes the book even more interesting to read is Pauw’s revelation of the goings on behind the scenes! The characteristics of people, the bribes paid, deceits etc are exposed. It is almost like having a highly sought after backstage pass where you are able to see much more than a well manicured show being put up.
A read that will most likely evoke some emotions, highly recommendable!
December 5, 2014
Gritty, hardcore and simply astounding. Pauws book will blow you away.
I was only introduced to his work about a year ago and then Walter suggested I also read his new book called Little Ice Cream Boy (most of the content for this book comes from Chapter 9 of Dances With Devils).
If you looking for a read that will have you closing the book to catch your breath after each chapter, then this is for you.
His reflections on the happenings in Rwanda and Sudan are a must read for those who want to know more than the usual info published on those horrendous events.
I was only introduced to his work about a year ago and then Walter suggested I also read his new book called Little Ice Cream Boy (most of the content for this book comes from Chapter 9 of Dances With Devils).
If you looking for a read that will have you closing the book to catch your breath after each chapter, then this is for you.
His reflections on the happenings in Rwanda and Sudan are a must read for those who want to know more than the usual info published on those horrendous events.
February 11, 2009
A whirlwind journey through a journo's travels on the African continent, riveting, harrowing, hillarious and touching all at once...
August 5, 2009
Harrowing read. Excellent book but very hard to digest the awfullness of it all.
August 27, 2012
Amazing book, opens your eyes to the world of the old South Africa, inspiring especially for young journalists!
September 23, 2014
Thoroughly enjoyed the book....highly recommended.
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December 11, 2014SEEMS INTERESTING...I' YET TO READ
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews