Respected historian Hermann Giliomee (author of The Afrikaners) takes a fresh and incisive look at five of the most influential Afrikaner leaders - and how and why their best laid plans went tragically and horrifically wrong. From HF Verwoerd - who ironically undermined apartheid irrevocably with his schools plan - via the pompous and imperial John Vorster, and the finger-wagging PW Botha to FW de Klerk with a detour for F Van Zyl Slabbert: each leader's policies, reasoning and foibles are explored to great effect. Who knew that Verwoerd based his thinking on erroneous population data, that PW Botha had a first stroke which was never revealed to the public but greatly compromised his judgement, or that the Rubicon debacle depended on a misunderstanding? Giliomee offers a fresh and stimulating political history which attempts not to condemn but to understand why and how these last Afrikaner leaders did what they did, and why their own policies ultimately failed them.