Summary

Colin Eglin was at the frontline of the making of South African history for the second half of the 20th Century. He served in parliament through the terms of seven successive prime ministers and presidents -- from JG Strijdom to Thabo Mbeki; and under five constitutions, from the Union constitution to the constitution of 1996. In the constitutional negotiations that followed Nelson Mandela's release from jail in February 1990, Mandela described Eglin as 'one of the architects of our democracy'. Eglin continued to make his impact in parliament over the first ten years of South Africa's transition to democracy. In this book, Colin Eglin recalls an active life well lived, from childhood in South Africa in the 1920s and 1930s to fighting his way through Italy in the Second World War, then to fighting his corner in parliament -- from which perspective he provides searching insights into South African politics and politicians -- during the most dramatic and traumatic half-century in the history of South Africa.