Somewhere Over the Rainbow

When Archbishop Desmond Tutu dubbed his native South Africa the "Rainbow Nation," he conjured a vision of ethnic diversity and harmony in a country with eleven official languages, two national anthems, and a parliament that shuttled between two cities. As a foreign correspondent reporting on the last days of apartheid, Gavin Bell thought it was a brave image and wondered how long it would endure. A few years later, he returned to find out what had happened to Tutu's rainbow. In his travels he found a country at odds with itself, swinging between hope and despair, buoyed by a sense of freedom and haunted by a fear of violent crime. Somewhere Over the Rainbow is not only a fine travel book by an award-winning writer, it is a compelling portrait of a country in search of an identity.