Ah, But Your Land Is Beautiful Ah, But Your Land Is Beautiful Ah, But Your Land is Beautiful is the third novel of Alan Paton, the South African author who is best known for writing "Cry, the Beloved Country". "Ah, but Your Land is Beautiful" is an anti-apartheid novel, in a similar vein to "Cry, the Beloved Country". It is a fictional reworking of Paton's own years working as a political activist and of the experience he gained working as the president of the Liberal Party of South Africa. In the foreword, Paton describes how the book contains both real and fictitious characters, but that two
Cry, the Beloved Country by Charles Carson, and Msimangu by Sidney Poitier. In 1983, a historic stage adaptation was performed by the Capital Players theatre group at the Moth Hall in Gaborone, Botswana. The country was at that time one of the leading "frontline states" to apartheid South Africa and a centre for artistic activity that often stood in quiet opposition to the racist regime just across the border. The premiere was attended by Paton himself, who had travelled from Natal, as well as Botswana's then-President Quett Masire (with political acumen, the director had arranged for the first performance to take place on the