A Question of survival: Conversations with key South Africans By Michel Albeldas & Alan Fischer
A Question of Survival: Conversations with Key South Africans (Collectible First Edition)
A Literary National Convention of Crucial Political Spectrum Debates from the Brink of Transition
A Literary National Convention of Crucial Political Spectrum Debates from the Brink of Transition
Bibliographic Specifications
- Title: A Question of Survival: Conversations with Key South Africans
- Authors / Editors: Michel Albeldas and Alan Fischer
- Publisher: Jonathan Ball Publishers, Johannesburg
- Publication Date: 1987
- ISBN-10: 0868501425 / ISBN-13: 9780868501420
- Edition Details: First Edition, First Impression. Vital Late-Apartheid Era Political Monograph.
- Binding: Hardcover with original publisher's heavy cloth boards, housed in the original illustrated dust jacket under a protective archive cellophane wrapper.
- Physical Format: Octavo (8vo), 449 pages.
- Language: English
Official Condition Report
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The Book: Very Good Plus (VG+) / Mint Internal State
- Exterior / Boards: The original publisher's heavy cloth boards remain exceptionally sharp, flat, and square. The spine is completely unbroken, crisp, uncreased, and undamaged, preserving perfect structural tightness.
- Interior: Pristine, clean, and immaculate. The pages are bright, intact, and entirely free from highlighting, ink margin notes, thumb soils, foxing, or dealer pencil markings. No previous owner inscriptions or stamps are present.
- Protection: This historical work has been impeccably well maintained and looked after thus far, now professionally protected with a removable, archival-grade cellophane sleeve.
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The Dust Jacket: Very Good (VG)
- Condition: The original illustrated dust jacket is complete and unclipped. It exhibits some typical, limited signs of standard retail shelf friction and light rubbing along the rear panels and lower edges. It is entirely free of chips, deep sun fading, or tears and presents beautifully inside its clear archival jacket protector.
Synopsis & Historical Value
Published in 1987 by Jonathan Ball during the height of the State of Emergency, A Question of Survival is a monumental historical document that captures the raw, conflicting political cross-currents of late-apartheid South Africa. Editors Michel Albeldas and Alan Fischer painstakingly constructed a "literary national convention" by interviewing an extraordinary cross-section of the nation's leaders—both official and unofficial—spanning the entire political spectrum and all racial communities of a deeply fractured land. This historic synthesis grants readers a rare, unfiltered opportunity to understand, assess, and directly compare the starkly contrasting future visions proposed by key figures on the brink of democratic transition. Long before the CODESA negotiations formalized negotiations, this text mapped out the foundational questions of survival, economic transition, and social cohesion, making it a critical archive for modern political collectors and contemporary Africana historians.
Published in 1987 by Jonathan Ball during the height of the State of Emergency, A Question of Survival is a monumental historical document that captures the raw, conflicting political cross-currents of late-apartheid South Africa. Editors Michel Albeldas and Alan Fischer painstakingly constructed a "literary national convention" by interviewing an extraordinary cross-section of the nation's leaders—both official and unofficial—spanning the entire political spectrum and all racial communities of a deeply fractured land. This historic synthesis grants readers a rare, unfiltered opportunity to understand, assess, and directly compare the starkly contrasting future visions proposed by key figures on the brink of democratic transition. Long before the CODESA negotiations formalized negotiations, this text mapped out the foundational questions of survival, economic transition, and social cohesion, making it a critical archive for modern political collectors and contemporary Africana historians.
Author Profile: Michel Albeldas & Alan Fischer
Michel Albeldas and Alan Fischer are prominent South African political researchers, analysts, and editorial curators active during the highly volatile transitional decades of the late 20th century. Working under the vanguard publishing banner of Jonathan Ball, they specialized in gathering high-stakes, first-person political testimonies and archiving current affairs dialogues that mainstream state media often heavily restricted. Their deep journalistic integrity and ability to secure candid interviews with heavily polarized leaders earned them widespread praise, cementing their joint volumes as indispensable, primary-source records of modern South African political sociology.
Michel Albeldas and Alan Fischer are prominent South African political researchers, analysts, and editorial curators active during the highly volatile transitional decades of the late 20th century. Working under the vanguard publishing banner of Jonathan Ball, they specialized in gathering high-stakes, first-person political testimonies and archiving current affairs dialogues that mainstream state media often heavily restricted. Their deep journalistic integrity and ability to secure candid interviews with heavily polarized leaders earned them widespread praise, cementing their joint volumes as indispensable, primary-source records of modern South African political sociology.
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