'A hell of a lot of hurt': writers confront South Africa's apartheid past

A wave of new books try to deal with the murder, deception, torture and racism of a brutal regime

The books tell stories of murder, deception, torture and racism, of events 30 or more years ago that still resonate today, of secrets that few want to hear, and of killers who have never been held to account.

One is by Paul Erasmus, a secret policeman under South Africa’s brutal, racist apartheid regime. For years he has described his misdeeds to investigators, courts, journalists and commissions, but now he is telling his story to a broader audience in a country where many still do not want to confront its bloody history.

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