Beyond the Miracle: Inside the New South Africa

by Allister Sparks (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2003

  $3.27

  Mandela's triumphant welcome as President of South Africa was one of the greatest defining moments of the 20th century. This book analyses brilliantly what has happened since in one of the world's few successful bloodless revolutions. South Africa has undergone a revolution in 15 years which has been largely unnoticed. It has been transformed from an apartheid state cut off from the rest of the world into an open multi-racial democracy. It has been a peaceful transformation, almost without parallel in history anywhere in the world. Compared to Russia's change after communism it has been a triumph. But of course there have been problems: the AIDS pandemic that threatens all Africa's future, and in education, expectations have far exceeded the difficult reality. Crime is a serious problem and the economy, now prey for the first time to globalisation and the whims of international investors is faltering. But it is one of the most vibrant and exciting places in the world, and a microcosm of the rest of the world: this is the multi-cultural society that Europe is becoming through immigration and this is a country where the impoverished poor meet the super-rich every day. This is an exceptional book by the greatest living commentator on South Africa.

• Used

  Paperback
  2003

  $4.38

• New

  Paperback
  2006

  $32.68

  Beyond the Miracle offers a comprehensive and moving account of the years in South Africa since the 1994 election of a democratic government - a defining moment in twentieth-century political life. Written by Allister Sparks, one of South Africa's most distinguished living journalists, Beyond the Miracle covers both the proud achievements and disappointing failures of the administrations and then looks to the future, asking whether this nation can overcome its history and current global trends to create a truly nonracial, multicultural, and multiparty democracy. Sparks unflinchingly examines the obstacles that the new, democratic South Africa faces: an increasingly wide gap between rich and poor, the disastrous long-term effects of civil conflicts, and the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS. Drawing on decades of experience as a journalist, as well as his recent insider access to key figures in the liberation government, Sparks takes stock of where South Africa has been, where it's going, and why the rest of the world should not turn away from this country where the First and Third Worlds meet. Beyond the Miracle includes interviews with presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki, as well as with less widely known individuals, such as Afrikaner Helena Dolny, the widow of anti-apartheid activist Joe Slovo. A brilliant analysis of political life since South Africa's bloodless revolution, Beyond the Miracle persuasively argues that achieving Mandela's vision of a peaceful rainbow nation is crucial not just for the salvation of Africa, but also for the world.