Klammer's book on South Africa is issued

A book co-authored by Luther College Professor Martin Klammer and South African freedom movement activist Blanche La Guma, titled "In the Dark with My Dress on Fire: My Life in Cape Town, London, Havana and Home Again," has been released in South Africa.

The book is the life story of La Guma, a South African woman who dedicated her life to ending apartheid through her various roles as underground Communist activist, professional nurse, wife and mother.  La Guma's struggled against apartheid on three continents, paying dearly for her commitments, yet returneing with dignity to a free and democratic South Africa.    

Born into a poor, working-class colored family in Cape Town, La Guma met her future husband, novelist and activist Alex La Guma, while training as a nurse-midwife in the early 1950s.  Together they fought apartheid in South Africa at great personal risk before continuing the struggle in exile in London, England and Havana, Cuba.            

Klammer is professor of Africana studies and English and head of the Africana studies department at Luther.