Young Mandela - Hardcover

David James Smith

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0297855247 ISBN 13: 9780297855248

Publisher: Little Brown and Company Dec-06-2010, 2010

Synopsis

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.

About this title

About the Author

David James Smith was born in 1956 and has been a journalist all his working life. He writes for the SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE.

Review

"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

About this edition

• Publisher: Little Brown and Company Dec-06-2010
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 0297855247
• ISBN 13: 9780297855248
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 320