An Unwitting Assassin: The story of my father's attempted assassination of Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd Paperback – 1 April 2019

Sadly, the contents of this book came as a great disappointment to me. The 1960 shooting of the South African Prime Minister is a chronically underdiscussed episode in history (not least in part due to the Prime Minister's later successful assassination in 1966). I was hoping this book might fill that gap, but unfortunately not. The author is indeed the daughter of David Pratt (the man who shot the Prime Minister) but this book is not about him and, even when he does appear, the information is not pertinent to his shooting of Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd. The book reads more like a genealogy project carried out by the author as to (both sides of) her family history. Other parts are a recounting of her school-days (keep in mind this was at a boarding school where her father was not at all present).Most of the work feels more like you're reading 'The Famous Five' or 'Mallory Towers' rather than a history book about an assassination attempt. I hate to sound mean, but I just wasn't that interested in a memoir about the author's life that, for the most part, had very little involvement with her biological father. Sections where Pratt is the focus are also sadly disappointing. The author fails to remain objective in discussing Pratt and what led him to shoot the Prime Minister, holding a whole host of other people responsible. Aspersions are cast on the author's stepmother, Pratt's psychiatrist, and his legal team among others. Whether it was a result of political conviction or personal frustration that Pratt shot the Prime Minister of South Africa (both of which may be argued), it remains Pratt's decision alone at the end of the day, a fact that is lost in the pages of this book as the author seeks to cast blame on anyone she personally disliked at the time.A lot of the book is also made up of photographs, most of which are not of David Pratt and almost none of which relate to his attempted assassination of the Prime Minister. All this being said, I do still rate the book more than the minimum of one star due to the few unique insights and anecdotes it is able to provide into the life and character of David Pratt. I was hoping for a biography of David Pratt with a chronology of his attempted assassination of Prime Minister Verwoerd; but instead received a book in which he remained forever on the periphery. For those with an interest in David Pratt, I would recommend this book only to the extent that you skim read it for the relevant sections alone.

love amazon prime and cant wait to read it on holiday