The 1950s in South Africa were a time of optimism that was abruptly halted by the Sharpeville Massacre. This is an account of those years as seen through the microcosm of "Drum", an illustrated magazine produced in Johannesburg for Blacks. Although owned and edited by Whites, it employed a group of black writers who lived by the precept, "Live fast, die young and have a good-looking corpse". They surveyed the world of the townships, exposed the realities of apartheid, and charted the growing resistance movement. The book reproduces the journalism and recalls the struggles, triumphs and tragedies of those who participated.
- ISBN10 0749395524
- ISBN13 9780749395520
- Publish Date 11 December 1995 (first published 11 March 1991)
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 10 September 1999
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Vintage Publishing
- Imprint Minerva
- Edition New edition
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 256
- Language English