Best Selling Books by Alan Paton

Sophomore Honors English Reading List - Ms. Lamore.

From the author of Cry, The Beloved Country comes a powerful novel of terror and remorse “written in exquisitely balanced prose” (Chicago Sun-Times) about a white policeman who has an affair with a native girl in South Africa. After violating his country’s ironclad law governing relationships between the races, a young white South African police lieutenant must struggle alone against the censure of an inflexible society, his family, and himself.

For millions of readers worldwide, Alan Paton''s books have vividly described life in contemporary South Africa. Ah, But Your Land Is Beautiful revolves around the everyday experiences of a group of men and women whose lives reflect the human costs of maintaining a racially divided society. Writing at the peak of his powers, Paton delivers a masterpiece.

Lord, Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace. Thus begins the beloved prayer of the Italian friar Saint Francis of Assisi, which well expresses his sentiments as a preacher of peace, love, and unity. Author and anti-apartheid activist Alan Paton drew upon the Prayer of Saint Francis to write Instrument of Peace (originally titled Instrument of Thy Peace) while his wife Dorrie lay dying of emphysema. Among many others, Paton said he wrote this book for those: Who wish with all their hearts to be better, purer, less selfish, more useful Who do not wish to be cold in love, and who know that being cold in love is perhaps the worst sin of them all Who wish to keep their faith bright and burning in a dark and faithless world Who seek not so much to lean on God as to be the active instrument of His peace “Sometimes we cannot pray because we are fallen into a melancholy and therefore have for the time lost our hope and our faith and have no one to pray to,” Paton wrote. “I am in unrepayable debt to Francis of Assisi, for when I pray his prayer, or even remember it, my melancholy is dispelled, my self-pity comes to an end, my faith is restored, because of this majestic conception of what the work of a disciple should be.”

With a mixture of compassion and despair, this collection of ten short stories by the distinguished author of ''Cry, the Beloved Country'' speaks eloquently yet incisively of the injustices of the author''s native land, South Africa.

An anthology of short stories, poems, essays and speeches; the writings run the range from Christian hope of overcoming injustice to deep feelings of paralysis and sterility. Chronologically arranged, they are divided into sections corresponding to Paton''s life interests: penal reform, literature and opposition to apartheid, first within, and then outside the Liberal Party. The speeches and articles often refer to martyrdom; the poems range from a humorous treatment of political self-censorship to the extraordinary 1946-47 ""The Prison House,"" a powerful statement of the so-called Bettelheim syndrome of identifying with the oppressor.

Alan Paton''s novel tells the story of the South African people and their struggles in the wake of colonial rule.

Now, Alan Paton tells the story of his early life--the important years that shaped his character, making him all the more aware of the tensions and complexities of South African life. A story of tremendous moral courage.

Consists chiefly of essays first published in the periodical Contact from 1958-1966. "Appendix B: Checklist of The long view [essasy from Contact] by Alan Paton": p. 279-282.

A book about Paton''s marriage and a celebration of his life.

In a South African boys'' reformatory, an African boy and the white principal try to understand each other.

Continues the first volume of the South African author''s autobiography beginning in 1948. Covers all of his writings and his political and personal life.

This world-renowned writer views the spiritual dilemmas of twentieth-century man and offers his affirmation of Christian faith