Catching Tadpoles: Shaping of a Young Rebel by Kasrils, Ronnie

Catching Tadpoles: Shaping of a Young Rebel by Kasrils, Ronnie

Softcover, ISBN 9781431429356
Publisher: Jacana Media, 2019
Used - Very Good. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. 

Ronnie Kasrils’s memoir reflects on compelling questions as to what
turned a white youngster from a modest background into a lifelong
revolutionary of note. A tiny minority who abandoned a life of
privilege were the antithesis of conventionality and toeing the line.
What made those such as Kasrils break all the rules and confront white
power with such courage, unbridled spirit and yearning for the truth?
This is a challenging and fascinating conundrum but Kasrils will claim
he is no aberration of history. The answers to that question, which
unravel through twenty years, will beguile readers as he peers back
with endearing frankness into the origins and experiences of his
formative years.
A Yeoville-born boykie with Yiddish roots; heartfelt empathy for the
underdog; an instinctive rejection of authoritarianism in school and
wider society were influences informing his adult life as revolutionary
activist.
With a remarkable memory and flair for the written and spoken word
the narrative revels in the social, sexual and political awakening of a
roguish boy’s adventures with girls, rock music, bohemian culture and
leaping across the colour barrier.
Kasrils’s tadpoles of the memoir’s title represent the submerged often
illusive tracts of memory he searches for as he delves into the mystery
of his metamorphosis. This stylistic element adds to the creativity of
this fourth memoir.