Description:
The relevance of a book review of a fictional account of the life story of a<br />child soldier in Sierra Leone for a journal such as Scientia Militaria is twofold: a)<br />Truth (reality) remains stranger (more horrific) than fiction; b) Based on national<br />foreign policy, the truth (realities) of Sierra Leone is by continental affiliation a<br />South African reality, and by micro-affiliation an SANDF reality.<br />This book challenges contemporary society, which is continuously bombarded<br />and often jaded by faceless or nameless graphic news scenes. Those portions of<br />society that remain blinded by prejudice and self-centred socio-political gaze to the<br />severity of these scenes, are now confronted with a face and a name: Ishmael Beah.<br />Physical combat methods to end human-on-human atrocities are welldocumented.<br />These methods, augmented by root-level resistance and general human<br />tenacity to overcome, often brought ends to what were at the height of their<br />existence perceived as endless oppressive reigns of varied proportions (World War<br />II, Apartheid, the Berlin Wall, Serbian rule, etc.).