Foreign Native Audiobook By R. W. Johnson cover art

Foreign Native

An African Journey

Preview
Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Foreign Native

By: R. W. Johnson
Narrated by: Peter Noble
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $20.71

Buy for $20.71

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use, License, and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

In Foreign Native, RW Johnson looks back with affection and humour on his life in Africa. From schooldays in Durban - fresh off the boat from Merseyside - to later years as an academic, director of the Helen Suzman Foundation and formidable political commentator, he has produced an entertaining and occasionally eye-popping memoir brimming with history, anecdote and insight. Johnson charts his evolution from enthusiastic, left-leaning Africanist to political realist, relating the episodes that influenced his intellectual worldview, including time spent among the exiled liberation movements in London during the 1960s, a sojourn in newly independent Guinea and more recent forays into Zimbabwe. There are wonderful stories, some hilarious, others filled with pathos, about the multitude of characters - Harold Strachan, Tom Sharpe, Ronnie Kasrils, Helen Suzman, Frederik van zyl Slabbert, among many others that he met along the way. Perceptive, critical and full of verve, Foreign Native is leavened with a deep humanity that makes it a pleasure to listen to.

©2020 Jonathan Ball Publishing (P)2020 Audible, Ltd
Africa Funny Witty
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_T1_webcro805_stickypopup
All stars
Most relevant  
I lived for long in hope and then disillusion. RWJ helped me become realistic and hopeful again.

A story that resonates with my experiences in SA

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Thank you R.W for this fascinating, frank and relatable journey through the political and social roller-coaster ride that has been South Africa over the past 70 years.

Speaking truth to power, on both sides of the political spectrum, is not an easy road to travel, but you have done so impeccably. I salute you and your principaled bravery.

A tremendously worthwhile investment in time to understand the origins and psyche of the ruling party, it's leaders and its Marxist maffiosa core which has influenced its rule, to the detriment of the majority of people it claims to serve.

Hugely insightful, brutally honest and personal

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.