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R.W. Johnson’s articles and essays get endlessly copied and recirculated, not just in Southern Africa but far more widely, and not just because of their acuity but because of his exceptional range of interests. As a former Oxford don and a prolific contributor to the 
international press Johnson simply has no equal as an observer and interpreter of national and world events. 

Whether he’s writing about politics in South Africa, Europe or the USA, about the new space race, about some of the leading personalities of our time, or about soccer, his views are always sharp, clear, highly informed and original.

 These are essays very much in the tradition of George Orwell. Orwell said that his aim was to make writing about politics into an art form of its own, but some of his most memorable essays (about boys’ comics, for example) show not just an interesting mind but a range far beyond that. Johnson’s writing is rather similar, and, as with Orwell’s essays, one can either read them one after another or dip into them, always sure of finding something startling and original. 

The result is A Roving Eye, a book which is not just unusual but unique, and which has a depth, a range, as well as a humanity and sophistication far beyond the normal.