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"A brisk, lively and vividly written portrait of post-apartheid South Africa" Peter Godwin, author of Mukiwa
In the early 1990s, the African National Congress, led by Nelson Mandela, engaged in a historic and peaceful transition to power in South Africa. For some, the story of South Africa ended with that moment - the victory of the ANC over the bitter injustice of the apartheid regime, and Mandela's astonishing mission of reconciliation.
Yet while the economy has grown steadily, as has a fledgling middle class, and black South Africans have attained positions of great... more "A brisk, lively and vividly written portrait of post-apartheid South Africa" Peter Godwin, author of Mukiwa
In the early 1990s, the African National Congress, led by Nelson Mandela, engaged in a historic and peaceful transition to power in South Africa. For some, the story of South Africa ended with that moment - the victory of the ANC over the bitter injustice of the apartheid regime, and Mandela's astonishing mission of reconciliation.
Yet while the economy has grown steadily, as has a fledgling middle class, and black South Africans have attained positions of great wealth and power, rampant inequality still remains. Violence is endemic in the townships and in the major cities. Race relations are fraught as whites struggle to find their place in the new order. President Thabo Mbeki's denial of the AIDS epidemic has led to tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths and been morally and politically disastrous. Mbeki's failure to check the abuses of Robert Mugabe's dictatorship in Zimbabwe has tarnished South Africa's reputation abroad and baffled Mbeki's former friends.
South Africa should be the continent's greatest hope, yet it stands at a crossroads as it faces its most serious test since the end of white rule. Uncertainty over its trajectory intensified with the election of Jacob Zuma, a charismatic populist who is embroiled in a corruption scandal, as Mandela's second successor as leader of the ANC, in 2007. This controversial choice unleashed turmoil within Africa's grandest liberation movement. Might it also signal the start of an unhappy new chapter in the post-apartheid story? The collapse of neighbouring Zimbabwe is a chilling example of how a revolutionary party can ossify in power and lose sight of its ideals. The journey from Mandela to Zuma is a political and moral epic, populated with extraordinary characters, and with the fate of South Africa at its core
In this expertly researched and beautifully told account, award-winning journalist Alec Russell draws on his deep knowledge of South Africa and his relationships with its most important figures - Mbeki, Zuma, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and of course Mandela himself - to address the questions facing the nation. At a turbulent time for many African countries as they emerge into the second phase of the post-independence era, this book will have a wide appeal for Africa-watchers everywhere. less 
John CarlinThe 1980s and up until the elections in 1994 was in a sense the heroic age, and one that will probably resound through South African history. Quite a lot of books have been written about that period. Fewer books have been written about the post-apartheid period. It’s a period that is much more morally complex. Before, it was literally black and white. It was humanity’s great parable – nobody had... (Source)
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Nelson Mandela, who emerged from twenty-six years of political imprisonment to lead South Africa out of apartheid and into democracy, is perhaps the world's most admired leader, a man whose life has been led with exemplary courage and inspired conviction.
Now Anthony Sampson, who has known Mandela since 1951 and has been a close observer of South Africa's political life for the last fifty years, has produced the first authorized biography, the most informed and comprehensive portrait to date of a man whose dazzling image has been difficult to penetrate. With unprecedented access to... more Nelson Mandela, who emerged from twenty-six years of political imprisonment to lead South Africa out of apartheid and into democracy, is perhaps the world's most admired leader, a man whose life has been led with exemplary courage and inspired conviction.
Now Anthony Sampson, who has known Mandela since 1951 and has been a close observer of South Africa's political life for the last fifty years, has produced the first authorized biography, the most informed and comprehensive portrait to date of a man whose dazzling image has been difficult to penetrate. With unprecedented access to Mandela's private papers (including his prison memoir, long thought to have been lost), meticulous research, and hundreds of interviews--from Mandela himself to prison warders on Robben Island, from Walter Sisulu and Oliver Tambo to Winnie Mandela and F. W. de Klerk, and many others intimately connected to Mandela's story--Sampson has composed an enlightening and necessary story of the man behind the myth. less John CarlinI guess that if I have to go to a desert island and take one Mandela book with me I think it would be Anthony Sampson’s one. He has the credibility of knowing Mandela as well as any biographer could be expected to get to know him. But, at the same time, he was able to reflect on Mandela. And the thing about Mandela is that he’s not a man to reflect upon himself. (Source)
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3
In Cape Town, South Africa, an old woman is dying of cancer. A classics professor, Mrs. Curren has been opposed to the lies and brutality of apartheid all her life, but has lived insulated from its true horrors. Now she is suddenly forced to come to terms with the iron-hearted rage that the system has wrought. In an extended letter addressed to her daughter, who has long since fled to America, Mrs. Curren recounts the strange events of her dying days. She witnesses the burning of a nearby black township and discovers the bullet-riddled body of her servant's son. A teenage black activist... more In Cape Town, South Africa, an old woman is dying of cancer. A classics professor, Mrs. Curren has been opposed to the lies and brutality of apartheid all her life, but has lived insulated from its true horrors. Now she is suddenly forced to come to terms with the iron-hearted rage that the system has wrought. In an extended letter addressed to her daughter, who has long since fled to America, Mrs. Curren recounts the strange events of her dying days. She witnesses the burning of a nearby black township and discovers the bullet-riddled body of her servant's son. A teenage black activist hiding in her house is killed by security forces. And through it all, her only companion, the only person to whom she can confess her mounting anger and despair, is a homeless man, an alcoholic, who one day appears on her doorstep. Brilliantly crafted and resonant with metaphor, Age of Iron is "a superbly realized novel whose truths cut to the bone." (The New York Times Book Review) less John CarlinThe author is JM Coetzee, the Nobel prize-winning author and, in my view, one of the top five living writers in the English language. Age of Iron is quite a short book – you could probably read it in a couple of hours. It’s set in mid-1980s South Africa, a time of tremendous political ferment. Mandela was imprisoned in 1964 and what followed for the next 10 years was a grave-like quiet of... (Source)
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4
Filled with colorful characters, dramatic battles like Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift, and an inexorable narrative momentum, this unsurpassed history details the sixty-year existence of the world's mightiest African empire; from its brutal formation and zenith under the military genius Shaka , through its inevitable collision with white expansionism, to its dissolution under Cetshwayo in the Zulu War of 1879. more Filled with colorful characters, dramatic battles like Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift, and an inexorable narrative momentum, this unsurpassed history details the sixty-year existence of the world's mightiest African empire; from its brutal formation and zenith under the military genius Shaka , through its inevitable collision with white expansionism, to its dissolution under Cetshwayo in the Zulu War of 1879. less John CarlinThis book has really stayed with me, and one thing I like about it is there is a continual undercurrent of deep respect, if not admiration, for the Zulu nation. The narrative has something of the rattling good yarn about it, while at the same time being extremely meticulously researched and scholarly at its core, but there is a lightness of touch in the tone and there are occasional wry asides.... (Source)
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5
The complexities of South Africa are illuminated upon in this acclaimed work that takes a close, clear look at the strange realities within that country. more The complexities of South Africa are illuminated upon in this acclaimed work that takes a close, clear look at the strange realities within that country. less John CarlinThat’s certainly one important point to make. I think Move Your Shadow was actually the first book on South Africa that I ever read. I moved to the country in 1989 as a correspondent from Central America, where I had spent the previous six years. I really knew very little about South Africa. It wasn’t a place I had any prior interest in but the foreign editor of The Independent, in his wisdom,... (Source)
Alec RussellIt was an astonishing achievement. Of course there were other factors – it was the end of the Cold War, so the white minority’s great fear of a Communist takeover was diminished. In 1990 when Mandela was released it was a time of great hope throughout the world and everything seemed to be changing. (Source)
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