Nelson Mandela is the world's greatest idol. He has been mythologised as a flawless hero of the liberation struggle. But how exactly did his early personal and political life shape the triumphs to come? This book goes behind the myth to find the man who people have forgotten or never knew - Young Mandela, the commited freedom fighter, who left his wife and children behind to go on the run from the police in the early 1960s. For the first time, we have evidence of a specific personal motivation for Mandela's fight against apartheid, and the book sheds light on the significant extent to which Mandela relied on white activists - a part of South African history the ANC has ignored or tried to bury. Mandela's historic achievements came with a heavy price - this biography graphically describes the emotional turmoil he left in his wake. After meticulous research, and taking a lead from Mandela's trusted circle, the author discovers much that is new, with many surprising, sometimes shocking details that will enhance our understanding of the world's elder statesman. Sanctified, lionised, it turns out that Mandela is a human being after all, only too aware of his flaws and shortcomings. With unique access to people and papers, culminating in a meeting with Nelson Mandela himself, David James Smith has written the single most important contribution to our knowledge of this global icon.
Young Mandela
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"Smith is a sympathetic guide through these ambiguities, gently chiding when accounts differ, seeking neither to bury Mandela nor to praise him" -- Chris Waywell TIME OUT "Smith succeeds in bringing him to life, wading in where other biographers have feared to tread to provide much new information and genuine insight." -- Stephen Robinson SUNDAY TIMES "This is in no sense of a hatchet job. But the consequences of Mandela's life of struggle costs not just him, but everyone close to him dear" -- Peter Lewis DAILY MAIL "This book is valuable and fascinating, in the new detail it brings to the account of Mandela's life" -- Justin Cartwright THE OBSERVER "this is a long-overdue exploration of the making of the Mandela myth; one that refreshes a somewhat stale and overcrowded field" -- Mark Gevisser THE GUARDIAN "The clues to Mandela's deep conviction about the need for a multi-racial society lie in this period" -- Martin Meredith MAIL ON SUNDAY "tells us not only of the man but of the continent and era" -- Gillian Slovo DAILY TELEGRAPH "In this respectfully revisionist biography, dealing with the years before Mandela's imprisonment in 1964, Mandela is candid" THE TIMES "This book is valuable and fascinating, in the new detail it brings to the account of Mandela's life" -- Justin Cartwright IRISH SUNDAY INDEPENDENT "this is a fascinating account of - perforce - the most turbulent period of Mandela's life" -- Alec Russell FINANCIAL TIMES "It...gives an insight into the early and middle years of a future world figure" -- David Winnick TRIBUNE David James Smith's YOUNG MANDELA takes up the tale of Mr Mandela's rise within the A.N.C. in gripping fashion" -- J.M. Ledgard International Herald Tribune
Synopsis
Nelson Mandela is the greatest political figure of our age and is universally known as a heroic leader who symbolises freedom and moral authority. He will soon be 90 years old and is fixed in the public mind as the world's elder statesman - the dignified, grey-haired man with a kindly smile who spent 27 years in prison from 1962 and somehow emerged intact to become the first black President of a newly liberated South Africa. But Nelson Mandela was not always elderly or benign. This book is about the man that people have forgotten - Young Mandela, the committed terrorist who left his wife and children behind to spend a year living on the run in the racist South Africa of the early 1960s, adopting false names and disguises and sleeping in safe houses as he organised and prepared the first strikes in a campaign of violence to overthrow the apartheid state. The book takes this momentous year - the culmination of Mandela's early career and the events that led directly to his long imprisonment - and retells the story with fresh and fine detail.Using the drama of these final months of freedom as a framework, the book re-examines the journey of his formative years and recreates the South Africa of the 'winds of change' era.David James Smith's biography graphically describes how a public hero sometimes leaves private turmoil in his wake.
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3.8 von 5 Sternen
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5 von 6 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
3.0 von 5 Sternen
Great material but frustrating to read
17. Januar 2011
Von J Martin Jellinek
- Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
Young Mandela is an interesting study of the life of Nelson Mandela leading up to the time of his imprisonment. Of course I had heard of Mandela as the first African president of post-Apartheid South Africa, but I was unaware of who he truly was and why his liberation from prison was such a big deal.
This book helped me obtain knowledge of exactly who Mandela was in his younger years. He was initially a strong supporter of change brought on by non-violent revolution. As the pressure and discrimination became more pronounced, he changed position and advocated a more violent revolution.
In Young Mandela, Smith uses a largely journalistic format, given his background as a reporter. This format assumed that the reader had some familiarity with the primary players in the drama and understood the basic politics involved. As a reader who had neither of these qualifications, I found parts of the book difficult to follow, especially since there is a huge cast of characters, many of who show up only sporadically. This made for frustrating reading.
So, overall the book was very informative and covered territory that I was unfamiliar to me. This is why I bought the book. But it was also frustrating reading the book.
This book helped me obtain knowledge of exactly who Mandela was in his younger years. He was initially a strong supporter of change brought on by non-violent revolution. As the pressure and discrimination became more pronounced, he changed position and advocated a more violent revolution.
In Young Mandela, Smith uses a largely journalistic format, given his background as a reporter. This format assumed that the reader had some familiarity with the primary players in the drama and understood the basic politics involved. As a reader who had neither of these qualifications, I found parts of the book difficult to follow, especially since there is a huge cast of characters, many of who show up only sporadically. This made for frustrating reading.
So, overall the book was very informative and covered territory that I was unfamiliar to me. This is why I bought the book. But it was also frustrating reading the book.
1 von 1 Kunden fanden die folgende Rezension hilfreich
3.0 von 5 Sternen
Hard to follow and yet i think I learned something
16. Februar 2011
Von John
- Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com
Format:Gebundene Ausgabe
I knew very little about Mandela and his struggle, thats why I listen to this audiobook. If I followed it correctly, Mandela did not fully embrace communism, but it was communist revolutionaries that he primarily worked with, they were influenced by Gandhi and tried non-violent civil disobedience, but eventually felt it was not working and thus decided to try a violent route like Che Guerva, but their preparation and attempts were laughable. They were amateurs and poor, and it did not take long for them to get caught. Mandela was sentence for life, but after 20 something years the political scene changed and he was released and became president. Mandela, was unique among most of the Africans he worked with, for a majority were just as racist as the whites, they just wanted to be the oppressors instead of being the oppressed. Mandela wanted equality. This book showed his messed up personal life, he was horrible to his wives and was a womanizer and most of those he worked with had very colored personal lives as well and yet high political ideals. Most sacrificed their families for the high cause.
4.0 von 5 Sternen
Recommended
31. März 2013
Von Stuart C Elliott
- Veröffentlicht auf Amazon.com
This biography covers Nelson Mandela's early years up to his imprisonment in 1964. Smith's discussion of Mandela's private life seems to depend too much on suppositions and speculation. What is interesting to me is the ANC's move from non-violence to armed struggle and the close, working relationship between the ANC (African National Congress) and the South African Communist Party.
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3.8 von 5 Sternen
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