These two unusual memoirs focus on themes of disaster, progress and hope in southern Africa as seen through the eyes of an American academic lecturing at South African universities in 1987 (Aronson), and one of South Africa's best known exile intellectuals (Sachs) during his recuperation from a 1988 bomb attack. Aronson's observations provide a thoughtful introduction to the familiar moral dilemmas of apartheid. Sachs, in what may become a minor classic of existential literature, reveals how totally integrated the instincts of personal and political struggle become in the life of the committed activist.