South: A path of my own

By John Morris

What are you going to do with this life you've been given? Turn it into an adventure.Who would find being an over-paid trial lawyer at the fancy-pants Jones Day law firm boring and confining? Me. In 1988, I walked away from a promising legal career in Los Angeles to start my life over on the other side of the world in Cape Town. I moved to South Africa when the minority white government's apartheid police state was at its worst -- spawning political violence, forcing foreign companies to disinvest, and leading South Africans to flee their own country. With our friends' warnings of impending civil war, certain death, and worse echoing in our heads, Kim and I set off for a place others were leaving on what would be the adventure of our lives: Twenty years in Africa during a tumultuous period of change. That adventure is at the heart of "South".But there's more. During my reckless youth, I hitchhiked through Europe, the Middle East, and north Africa. In September 1970 -- Black September -- I went south from Istanbul into the fighting in Jordan. When the U.S. boycotted the 1980 Moscow Olympics, I initiated the legal action which enabled those few Americans -- including Kim and me -- who still wanted to attend those most unusual games to go and to gain a unique look into the Brezhnev-era Soviet Union. In South Africa, I engaged in a business no on else would attempt because it was perceived to be illegal. I later changed the law and the financial services industry in South Africa while all around me the large, established financial institutions remained frozen in place and missed the opportunity. I grew up in the Jim Crow south so I brought a unique perspective to apartheid South Africa. The story of my relationships with South Africans black and white, as well as the country's government and largest businesses, is told through the prism of my childhood in the racially-segregated south of the United States.This is the story of finding a better life by choosing adventure over boring -- choosing a life others wouldn't consider -- choosing my own path rather than following others'. But the story told in "South" is not just mine. It's about patriarchy, sexism, and spousal abuse as well as race, racism, Jim Crow, and apartheid -- issues and concerns much bigger than my small life -- as I encountered them in both South Africa and the United States.The life which propels this story has taught me to be positive and optimistic and to find humor even in the darkest place. So "South" is upbeat and funny and filled with lessons learned, unconventional advice, and the gratitude I feel for the people I've met, the life I've lived, and all of the adventures I had along the way.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1090234465
• ISBN13: 9781090234469
• Release Date: March 2019
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 380 Pages
• Weight: 1.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.0" x 6.0"