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Winnie & Nelson

Portrait of a Marriage
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( 326 ratings, 60 reviews)
Brief Description
Shortlisted for the 2024 Wolfson History Prize ‘Gripping and profoundly moving’ DAMON GALGUT ‘Deft and operatic’ OBSERVER From one of South Africa’s foremost nonfiction writers, a deeply researched, shattering new account of Nelson Mandela’s relationship with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Drawing on never-before-seen material, Steinberg reveals the fractures... Read More
Format: Paperback / softback
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Winnie & Nelson

‘Gripping and profoundly moving’ DAMON GALGUT

‘Deft and operatic’ OBSERVER

A TIMES BEST BIOGRAPHY OF 2023

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Shortlisted for the 2024 Wolfson History Prize

‘Gripping and profoundly moving’ DAMON GALGUT

‘Deft and operatic’ OBSERVER

From one of South Africa’s foremost nonfiction writers, a deeply researched, shattering new account of Nelson Mandela’s relationship with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Drawing on never-before-seen material, Steinberg reveals the fractures and stubborn bonds at the heart of a volatile and groundbreaking union, a very modern political marriage that played out on the world stage.

One of the most celebrated political leaders of the twentieth century, Nelson Mandela has been written about by many biographers and historians. But in one crucial area, his life remains largely untold: his marriage to Winnie. During his years in prison, Nelson grew ever more in love with an idealised version of his wife, courting her in his letters as if they were young lovers frozen in time. But Winnie, every bit his political equal, found herself increasingly estranged from her jailed husband’s politics. Behind his back, she was trying to orchestrate an armed seizure of power, a path he feared would lead to an endless civil war.

Jonny Steinberg tells the tale of this unique marriage – its longings, its obsessions, its deceits – turning the course of South African history into a page-turning political biography. Winnie & Nelson is a modern epic in which trauma doesn’t just affect the couple at its centre, but an entire nation. It is also a Shakespearean drama in which bonds of love and commitment mingle with timeless questions of revolution, such as whether to seek retribution or a negotiated peace.

Told with power and tender emotional insight, Steinberg reveals how far these forever entwined leaders would go for one another, and also, where they drew the line. For in the end both knew theirs was not simply a marriage, but a contest to decide how apartheid should be fought.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780008353810

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 11 April 2024

Country: United Kingdom

Imprint: William Collins

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 40.0mm

Width: 129.0mm

Height: 198.0mm

Weight: 400g

Pages: 576

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About the Author

Jonny Steinberg is a South African writer and scholar who has taught at Oxford University, Yale and Wits University in Johannesburg. He is the author of several books about everyday life in the wake of South Africa's transition to democracy. Two of them, Midlands (2002), about the murder of a white South African farmer, and The Number (2004), a biography of a prison gangster, won the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award. In 2013 he was awarded the prestigious $150,000 Windham-Campbell Literature Prize.

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