Pale Native. Memories of a Renegade Reporter

(Cape Town: Zebra Press, 2003) 1868729133. 230 x 152 mm; laminated pictorial wrappers; pp. (viii) + 286, incl. index; plates, incl. some in colour. Fine condition. "Former Financial Mail boss Stephen Mulholland called him the 'worst unguided missile' he had ever come across. PW Botha poked Max with his famous finger and said: 'This man spent his life making trouble for everyone.' FW de Klerk called him 'one of my enemies'. Nelson Mandela, speaking at an annual foreign correspondents dinner, said: 'There is a man here tonight who is an outstanding example to all of you: Max du Preez.' Yet, a member of the Mbeki government called him 'a political commissar of apartheid'. His former boss Joe Thloloe said: 'Many say he is difficult to work with and has no respect for authority. For him there are no holy cows. But even his worst enemies will concede that he is an outstanding journalist.' Sunday Independent columnist John Carlin wrote: 'Max belongs to South Africa's heroic period; he is a character worthy of having walked on the Mandela stage. The tawdriness that is the master spirit of this age is beneath a man of his outstanding qualities.' If people say these things about him, imagine the story he has to tell ... " .