117 Days : An Account of Confinement and Interrogation under the South African 90-Day Detention Law

An unforgettable account of defiance against political terror by one of South Africa’s pioneering anti-apartheid activists An invaluable testimonial of the excesses of the apartheid system, 117 Dayspresents the harrowing chronicle of journalist Ruth First’s isolation and abuse at the hands of South African interrogators after her arrest in 1963. Upon her arrest, she was detained in solitary confinement under South Africa’s notorious ninety-day detention law. This is the story of the war of nerves that ensued between First and her Special Branch captors—a work that remains a classic portrait of oppression and the dignity of the human spirit.

Ruth First (1925-û1982) was a journalist, editor, activist, and author whose prominence in the South African Communist Party and ties to the African National Congress put her in the sights of South Africa-'s notoriously repressive law enforcement community.

Angela Y. Davis is a professor emerita of History of Consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 1970 she was placed on the FBI-'s -ôTen Most Wanted-ö list for her involvement in the campaign to free the Soledad Brothers.