<DIV>Award-winning journalist Alec Russell was in South Africa to witness the fall of apartheid and the remarkable reconciliation of Nelson Mandela's rule; and returned in 2007-2008 to see Mandela's successor, Thabo Mbeki, fritter away the country's reputation. South Africa is now perched on a precipice, as it prepares to elect Jacob Zuma as president?signaling a potential slide back to the bad old days of post-colonial African leadership, and disaster for a country that was once the beacon of the continent.<P>Drawing on his long relationships with all the key senior figures including Mandela, Mbeki, Desmond Tutu, and Zuma, and a host of South Africans he has known over the years?including former activists turned billionaires and reactionary Boers?Alec Russell's <I>Bring Me My Machine Gun</I> is a beautifully told and expertly researched account of South Africa's great tragedy: the tragedy of hope unfulfilled.</DIV>