Granted unrestricted access to the Biehl family’s papers, Steven Gish brings Amy and the Foundation to life in ways that have eluded previous authors. He is the first to place Biehl’s story in its full historical context, while also presenting a gripping portrait of this remarkable young woman and the aftermath of her death across two continents.
Steven D. Gish is a professor of history at Auburn University at Montgomery. His previous books include Alfred B. Xuma: African, American, South African and Desmond Tutu: A Biography. He has traveled widely in South Africa since the 1980s and has interviewed key figures in the antiapartheid movement, including Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Desmond Tutu, Trevor Huddleston, and Beyers Naudé.
“Gish’s fine book tells Biehl’s story warmly and well and also
provides an uplifting account of how her parents dealt with her
loss and have since engaged in an elaborate reconciliation with
South Africa and their daughter’s assailants.…Summing up:
Essential.”
*CHOICE*
“If ever there was a book for our time, this is it. Amy Biehl’s
story is painful and inspirational, and Steven D. Gish has captured
both in his extraordinary recounting of Biehl's journey. While some
may struggle to fathom why this young white scholar chose to walk
alongside South Africans on their often-dangerous path to
democracy, Gish’s masterful book provides answers in her own words
and those of others who understood her passion and her commitment.
Amy Biehl’s Last Home is a book that can and should inspire us
all.”
“I knew both the author and the subject of this book from a
Stanford class in African politics. As a black South African, I had
considerable anti-white grievance, but Steve and Amy in their life
choices laid bare the dangers of my single story, even more so when
Amy died so tragically in my hometown. As race relations seem to be
unraveling on both sides of the Atlantic, this impressive work of
scholarship about the entangled histories of South Africa and the
United States comes at an opportune time.”
“Readers interested in reconciliation processes and justice
movements will find this study illuminating and moving.”
*Publishers Weekly*
“Amy Biehl’s Last Home will, for all its accessibility to a general
readership, be of value to scholars of the South African
transition, of the impact of South African events on the United
States, and of what Gish calls ‘forgiveness studies.’”
“Gish brings new insights to the story of Amy Biehl, her death, and
the family's coming to peace with the tragedy … His knowledge as an
historian of modern South Africa gives nuance and depth to this
inspiring story of commitment, sacrifice, and forgiveness.”
“Steven Gish has written a remarkable account of Amy Biehl’s life,
death, and what happened subsequently as her killers were brought
to trial and her parents established a foundation in her name
devoted to reconciliation and forgiveness. Deftly probing the
controversies that erupted in South Africa after her death and the
work of the foundation, Gish sensitively plumbs the pathos that is
at the heart of the story. There were passages where I was brought
to tears.”
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