Kaffir Boy, Mathabane's first book, detailed the brutal hardship of growing up black in South Africa. A driven student and gifted tennis player, Mathabane came to the attention of American tennis pro Stan Smith who helped him secure college scholarships in the U.S. and became his sponsor/surrogate family here. If Kaffir Boy won Mathabane instant celebrity, Kaffir Boy in America has put Mathabane at the center of heated controversies concerning racism, religion and the English language. Though both books have been translated and published in a number of countries, they are banned in South Africa.

At the entrance to Alexandra, the Bantu township in which Mathabane was raised, there is a sign warning that anyone who enters there without a permit will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The sign is directed at whites who under apartheid are not intended to enter, even...