Books that matter : David Philip Publishers during the apartheid years : a memoir / by Marie Philip.

Acknowledgements -- Dedication -- 1. When and why: the background -- 2. Holding open the doors -- 3. Confirming the presence, growing the list -- 4. 1985-89: The toughest years -- 5. 1990: The beginning of the end of apartheid -- Postscript: 1995-99 -- Abbreviations -- Appendix I: 'Let it be known: The heritage of David Philip and the needs of the nation'-English Academy commemorative lecture by Professor Stanley G.M Ridge -- Appendix II: Complete list by year of David Philip Publishers -- Publications 1971-99 -- Credits of past covers.

"David and Marie Philip started an independent publishing firm in South Africa during some of the darkest days of censorship. Their unintimidated aim was to publish good books. In spite of all odds, they have come of age as among not only the bravest but also the most highly regarded of our publishers.... South Africa in the 1970s was a divided and increasingly traumatised country, seemingly permanently in the toils of apartheid, and with little space available for open discussion of apartheid policies or awareness of just what those policies were meaning in the lives of people. It was in this context that David Philip, a South African already involved for several years in publishing, became convinced there must be more opportunity for books with informed discussion and debate to be written and published within the country. He persuaded his wife Marie, also with publishing experience, that they could together set up their own independent publishing company, to publish 'Books that matter for Southern Africa' - in social history, politics, literature, or whatever - good of their kind and ready to challenge mainstream apartheid thinking. This is an anecdotal account - a memoir - of the lows and highs of a small, cheerful, underfunded but vibrant 'oppositional' publishing company, David Philip Publishers, from the year 1971 through to the birth of the new South Africa." -- Back cover.