
Mandela
A Critical Life
Tom Lodge(Author)
Oxford University Press
Published on 26. July 2007
Book
Paperback/Softback
312 pages
978-0-19-921935-3 (ISBN)
Description
Nelson Mandela, the first African politician to acquire a world following, remains in the 21st century an iconic figure. But what are the sources of his almost mythic appeal? And to what extent did Mandela self-consciously create the status of political hero that he now enjoys?
This new and highly revealing biography examines these questions in detail for the first time. Drawing on a range of original sources, it presents a host of fresh insights about the shaping of Mandela's personality and public persona, from his childhood days and early activism, through his long years of imprisonment, to his presidency of the new South Africa. Throughout, Lodge emphasizes the crucial interplay between Mandela's public career and his personal or private world, showing how his heroic status was a product both of his leading position within the anti-apartheid movement and his own deliberate efforts to supply a form of quasi-messianic leadership for that movement.
And as Lodge shows, Mandela's huge international appeal is a compelling and unusual cocktail. Of the sacred and the secular. Of traditional African values and global media savvy. And of human vulnerablilty, interwoven with the grand narrrative of liberation.
This new and highly revealing biography examines these questions in detail for the first time. Drawing on a range of original sources, it presents a host of fresh insights about the shaping of Mandela's personality and public persona, from his childhood days and early activism, through his long years of imprisonment, to his presidency of the new South Africa. Throughout, Lodge emphasizes the crucial interplay between Mandela's public career and his personal or private world, showing how his heroic status was a product both of his leading position within the anti-apartheid movement and his own deliberate efforts to supply a form of quasi-messianic leadership for that movement.
And as Lodge shows, Mandela's huge international appeal is a compelling and unusual cocktail. Of the sacred and the secular. Of traditional African values and global media savvy. And of human vulnerablilty, interwoven with the grand narrrative of liberation.
Reviews / Votes
A balanced critical biography. * Sarah Ruden, Standpoint *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Illustrations
17 black and white plates, 3 maps
Dimensions
Height: 195 mm
Width: 128 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
255 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-921935-3 (9780199219353)
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Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Book
10/2006
Oxford University Press
€18.59
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Person
Tom Lodge was a member of the Department of Political Studies at the University of Witwatersrand between 1978 and 2005. He is now Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Limerick University in Ireland. He has also worked in the United States as Director of the Africa Program at the Social Science Research Council. He is the author of five other books on South African politics, including an authoritative history text on the post-Second World War history of black resistance.
Content
1. Childhood and Upbringing ; 2. Becoming a Notable ; 3. Volunteer-in-Chief ; 4. Making a Messiah ; 5. Trials ; 6. Prisoner 466/64 ; 7. Leading from Prison ; 8. Messianic Politics and the Transition to Democracy ; 9. Embodying the Nation