In this extraordinary account of the complicity of multinational corporations in repression and radical conflict in South Africa, Sampson traces the tragic relationship between capitalism and apartheid, beginning in the diamond and gold mines of a century ago and continuing to present day South Africa, at the brink of civil war. How the world's biggest businesses reacted to the growing pressure from abroad and to the accelerating breakdown of South African society is the fascinating story in which Sampson is both participant and observer. He shows that the original mine owners were largely unaware of the political significance of the urbanized black communities they had helped create.