Apartheid made South Africa a polecat among nations, and by the end of the National Party's reign South Africa was a pariah state even among countries that were hardly squeamish about getting their hands dirty with the more nefarious elements of statecraft. South Africa's intelligence services after 1948 had more reason than most to keep their stories silent. These are the barriers inherent in writing the history of intelligence agencies. It is even more difficult to write histories of people whose job it was to keep their stories hidden, to misdirect observers to believe that the story is something else, and to keep those stories quiet by any necessary means, including enforcing silence by killing. It is difficult to write histories of people who do not want their stories to be told. Reviewed by Derek Catsam (University of Texas of the Permian Basin) Apartheid's Friends: The Rise and Fall of the South African Secret Services.
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