On April 7, 1988, Albie Sachs, an activist South African lawyer and a leading member of the ANC, was car-bombed in Maputo, capital of Mozambique, by agents of South Africa's security forces. His right arm was blown off and he lost the sight of one eye. This intimate and moving account of his recovery records the gradual recuperation of his broken body, his complex interaction with health professionals, the importance of touch and sensuality, and his triumphant reentry into the world. It also captures the spirit of a remarkable man: his enormous optimism, his commitment to social justice, and his joyous wonder at the life that surrounds him. In a new epilogue, Sachs gives a gripping insider's view of the major public events of the last decade--the election of Nelson Mandela, the formation of the Constitutional Court and Sachs's appointment as judge, and his own role with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Albie Sachs is Justice of the Constitutional Court of South Africa. He is the author of Justice in South Africa (1974), The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs (1976), and Sexism and the Law (1979). Nancy Scheper-Hughes is Professor of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her books include Death Without Weeping (California, 1992) and Saints, Scholars and Schizophrenics (California, 1979).

"Sachs has written a highly personal and sensually explicit odyssey concerning his own damaged body at the same time as writing a book imbued with apparently undaunted idealism concerning his damaged mother-country South Africa."—Times Educational Supplement

"This is an extraordinary book: courageous, horrifying, sad, and funny. . . . Because he is a gifted writer, Albie Sachs's account of his slow physical rehabilitation is fascinating. We share his pain, his difficulty in relearning to walk, his ingenuity in tying shoelaces and his tie with his left hand alone. . . . This book will make everyone who reads it more aware of the urgency of the need for total change. It will also deepen our admiration for Albie Sachs and the thousands of others who have shown such amazing courage in fighting evil."—Times (London)

"I've never read anything quite like this bookwild, loving, sad, with humor striking deep as emotion."—Nadine Gordimer

A conversation with Albie Sachs in text and video