Do You like book The Bang-Bang Club: Snapshots From A Hidden War (2001)?
It was hard to rate this book but in the end, chose 5 stars because it gave me a view of South Africa's end of Apartheid, the political aspects and the photojournalists recording it. It was heart-wrenching to read at times and the photos intensified it.The Bang-Bang Club comprises of four South African photographers, Greg, Joao, Ken and Kevin who risk their lives going into violent townships, dead zones, hostels in order to document what was really happening there with their cameras. By working in these conditions, they form a brotherhood with a reputation as "conflict photographers" that a 1992 magazine dubbed them 'the Bang-Bang Paparazzi' that was soon changed to the Bang-Bang Club. Greg and Joao gives the reader a brief history lesson on the formation of South Africa's Apartheid and the repercussions which I knew absolutely nothing about...until now. This book gives us a front seat view of the photojournalists covering the bloody struggles for freedom and democracy. We learn the names of a few of the people involved, affected by and live in the townships, in the war zones. Greg and Joao give the readers an honest and highly personal look at their journey, from when they first picked up a camera and their drive to capture history in their own backyards (and in some cases, beyond). These brave photojournalists face difficult moral dilemmas in their roles as messengers - to bring the realities of war to people like me who are lucky not to live in that environment. These extremely brave souls have my heart-felt respect.
—Lisa
I try to always read a book before I see the movie but until I saw the movie I did not even know about this book. The movie was almost exactly like the book which either sings very high praises for the movie or means the book was just average. I really loved reading the book and it made me more informed and educated about the events surrounding the end of apartheid. If you read the book or watch the movie you will gain almost the same in the end. The saddest part to me was the the reporter that ends of committing suicide was obviously bipolar and the drugs made this worse. Maybe if those around him had realized that he had a mental illness AND a drug problem he could have been saved. I am not saying that they were responsible for him but I think it should have been something explored.
—Arwen Fowler-jonsson
There's a pre-req for this book: a keen intellectual interest in the politics of South Africa. In order to contextualize the cowboy element of the photojournalists comprising the Bang Bang Club [Jaoa, Greg, Ken and Kevin] the author goes into DEEP historical aspects of Apartheid and the unraveling. He has to I think to articulate exactly how violent things are and the huge risks whites (even born and bred in SA) were taking by going into the townships to shoot these photos. The information about the townships and the information on Apartheid are mind-boggling in their complexity and destructiveness. He writes it well and makes it as accessible as possible, though parts are heart breaking to read. I kinda found the photojournalism aspect taking a back to seat to all the fucked up violence and puppetry of politics gone horribly wrong.Pulitzer prizes are won but the life these guys were leading at this time is a hard one to out run. That any of them made it through is a testament to toughness.
—Elizabeth
