BY TONY LEON">ON THE CONTRARY BY TONY LEON IN SOUTH AFRICA

Controversial, principled, plain-spoken - Tony Leon, leader of the opposition for thirteen years, is all that and more. On the Contrary records in his finely-focused prose an adventure in ideas that involves vivid, real people - friends, colleagues and remorseless opponents alike. Many are famous names. Readers will be startled at Leon's freshness of approach and grasp of the intricate realities and compromises that go into the making of a politician and into the leadership of a political party. Fresh light is cast on a half-century of figures who have shaped modern South Africa: from the dour Nationalists to the abrasive personalities of the liberation fold. On The Contrary Tony Leon Jonathan Ball Publishers, 2008 766pp ISBN 9781868423057