The first free elections in South Africa's history were held in 1994. Within a year legislation was drafted to create a Truth and Reconcilliation Commission to establish a picture of the gross human rights violations committed between 1960 and 1993. It was to seek the truth and make it known to the public and to prevent these brutal events ever happening again. From 1996 and over the following two years South Africans were exposed almost daily to revelations about their traumatic past. Antije Krog's full account of the Commission's work using the testimonies of the oppressed and oppressors alike is a harrowing and haunting book in which the voices of ordinary people shape the course of history.WINNER OF SOUTH AFRICA'S SUNDAY TIMES ALAN PATON AWARD

"Antjie Krog has worked in acute engagement with the many voices that arose in and around South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission. From the legislative genesis of the Commission, through the testimonies of victims of abuse and violence, and the activities of apartheid's operatives, the appearance of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, former president PW Botha's courthouse press conference, the Commission's meeting with the media on Robben Island early in 1998 - Antjie Krog leads us on an extraordinary odyssey. COUNTRY OF MY SKULL captures the complexity of the truth commission's work in a uniquely personal narrative which is harrowing, illuminating and provocative. Krog's powerful prose lures the reader actively and inventively through a mosaic of insights, impressions and secret themes. Taking us beneath the big movements of the Truth Commission - and beyond: into the very heart of what is means to be a South African today."