Bullsh!t 50 Fibs that Made South Africa
Jonathan Ancer
Jonathan Ball Publishers
Review: Lauren O’Connor-May
This book really got me thinking. I wondered, firstly, why the book’s release was timed so closely to the election, especially since certain political entities’ gaffs came under such heavy fire in the book.
It seemed suspicious to me that these long-known embarrassments, which most people had forgotten, were put back in the public consciousness so close to the election.
I also wondered why other political entities got off so lightly in the book. Politics is rife with lies so I wondered why Jonathan Ancer, with his solid journalistic background, would choose to publish a book of already well-known political lies when his skills could have served so much more purposefully in uncovering those that were hidden from the public eye.
Some of these questions were thankfully answered in Ancer’s pagecast, which can be listened to online. In the interview, Ancer said that the idea and tone for the book were publisher-led.
The positives of the book is that the writing is very witty and entertaining. The anecdotes are delivered in short punchy chapters, filled with clever wordplay and heavy doses of sarcasm. The book also delivers some important bits of history in easy-to-read bites.
I felt the title was a little click-baity because it claims that the famous fibs Ancer details “made” South Africa but this is only true of a few. Others are public embarrassments that gave the country brief stints of infamy rather than changing its shape.