The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela - Hardcover

Nelson Mandela; Sahm Venter; Zamaswazi Dlamini-mandela

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1631491172 ISBN 13: 9781631491177

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company, 2018

Synopsis

The first authorised and authenticated collection of correspondence spanning the 27 years Nelson Mandela was held as a political prisoner.

While incarcerated in South Africa as a sentenced prisoner between 1962 and 1990, Nelson Mandela wrote hundreds of letters to loved ones, followers, prison authorities and government officials documenting his plight as the most prominent political prisoner of the twentieth century. Organised chronologically and divided by the four jails in which he was imprisoned, approximately 250 selected letters many of them never before seen by the public have been assembled here from the collections held by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the South African National Archives and the Mandela family, amongst others, together with a foreword by Mandela's granddaughter.

With accompanying facsimiles of some of the letters and generous annotations, the book provides a personal and intimate portrait of the lawyer and political activist as husband, parent, friend and political prisoner, reflecting on everything from the trajectory of the anti-apartheid movement to the death of his beloved son, Thembi.

Publishing for the centenary of Mandela s birth, The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela forms a new autobiographical vision, providing insight into how Mandela maintained his inner spirits while living in almost complete isolation and how he engaged with an outside world that became increasingly outraged by his plight.

About this title

Review

“Madiba's words give us a compass in a sea of change. Firm ground amidst swirling currents.” — Barack Obama

“A veritable treasure trove, they grant a forensic insight into his courage, superhuman fortitude and clarity of political judgment; into his agony at failing in his duties as a husband and father of two girls, toddlers when he was snatched away; and his torment at being refused permission to attend either his mother's or his son’s funeral. To me, even as a biographer of Mandela, it is a revelatory volume.” — Peter Hain, The Daily Telegraph

“... this mesmerising book of prison letters... through these compelling letters the thinking, feeling, loving man he was comes back to us.” — Gillian Slovo, The Guardian

“Venter has done an excellent job of sifting through the South African national archives, which alone contain 57 boxes of his prison letters and papers, and smaller collections that are scattered all over the place.” — Ivan Fallon, The Sunday Times

“Nelson Mandela’s long, thoughtful letters, written during his 27 years in prison, display an unwavering certainty that change would prevail.” — Tim Adams, Book of the Day, The Guardian

“... as a series of illuminating snapshots into one of the most important political icons of post-colonial Africa, the book will have a timeless value.” — The Irish Times

“Remarkably, this collection only serves to enhance and consolidate Mandela’s reputation as a defining figure of the last century and the present one. The letters are in multiple languages, English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa, but they speak the language of humanity, which is the language of that fraught but loaded prison word: time.” — The Herald

“To commemorate what would have been his 100th birthday, a book of 250 letters has just been published, providing a remarkable insight into the man, his tenacity and endurance and the struggle for his country's freedom.” — The Independent

About the Author

Nelson Mandela (1918--2013) was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist, who served as the first democratically-elected President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. Mandela established the Nelson Mandela Foundation as his post-presidential office in 1999. It is a not-for-profit organization which has, since 2004, been transformed into an archive and trusted voice on his life and times. It carries out its mandate to promote Mandela's vision and work by convening dialogues and creating platforms for engagement around critical issues to promote social justice.

About this edition

• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1631491172
• ISBN 13: 9781631491177
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 640