Mandela: His Essential Life

Mandela: His Essential Life

by PeterHain (Author), Peter Hain (Author)

Synopsis

Mandela: His Essential Life chronicles the life and legacy of one of the twentieth century's most influential and admired statesmen. Charting his development from remote rural roots to city lawyer, freedom fighter, and then political leader, Peter Hain takes an in-depth look at Mandela's rise through the ranks of the African National Congress (ANC) and subsequent 27 years imprisonment on Robben Island, as increasingly vocal protests against the injustices of Apartheid brought his struggle against overwhelming prejudice and oppression to the eyes of the world. This book encompasses Mandela's inauguration as South Africa's first democratically elected president, his retirement campaigns for human rights, a solution to AIDS and poverty. It goes on to chronicle his later years and death. Throughout, the humanity and compassion of this extraordinary world leader shine through. The author concludes with a critical analysis of his and the ANC's achievements, its leadership's subsequent slide into corruption, and whether under new direction South Africa can reclaim the values and legacy of Mandela, and the `rainbow nation' he created and led to such global acclaim.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 232
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Published: 18 Jul 2018

ISBN 10: 1786607581
ISBN 13: 9781786607584

Media Reviews
Passionate and engaging. From a man whose tireless anti-apartheid activism supported the long struggle to free his friend and leader, Nelson Mandela. -- Jon Snow, Broadcaster
Highly readable and inspirational. -- Desmond Tutu
His life and times told succinctly and compellingly. -- Sello Hatang, CEO, Nelson Mandela Foundation
Peter Hain's excellent Mandela: His Essential Life, does not pretend to be anything more than, as he writes, a short, popular and accessible book that tells Mandela's entire and remarkable story in a nutshell . Actually, he does himself a disservice: it is much more than that, and is a serious analysis of Mandela's place in history, his failings as well as his virtues. It also contains a powerful final chapter on the betrayal of the Mandela legacy. In recent years, Hain, a second-generation anti-apartheid activist, has exposed the corruption of the Zuma presidency, and played no small part in bringing down the PR firm Bell Pottinger. It is a sad sequel to Mandel's life but a story of modern-day South Africa that needs to be told. * The Sunday Times, 15 July 2018 *
Author Bio
Peter Hain is well known for a lifetime of anti-apartheid campaigning. Born to anti-apartheid activists with links to Mandela going back to the 1950s, he grew up in South Africa where his parents were jailed, then banned and finally exiled to Britain by the regime. The effectiveness of Hain's fervent campaigning in the 1970s made him a target of the regime's security services. Subsequently a Labour MP and government minister, Peter Hain served in several prominent Cabinet positions including Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, and Leader of the House of Commons. He is now a member of the House of Lords. A regular contributor to the daily nationals, he is also the author of 20 books including Don't Play with Apartheid, Mistaken Identity, A Putney Plot?, Sing the Beloved Country and his memoirs Outside In.