Beyond The Miracle

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.