This is a collection of 70 poems, short stories, articles and speeches. With three exceptions, none have previously been published in the United States; about a third of the pieces first appear here. 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.

"One is struck by the strong resemblance in certain particulars to writers and intellectual witnesses like Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and George Orwell." (The New York Times)