Nelson Mandela: A Very Short Introduction

Nelson Mandela: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Elleke Boehmer
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0192803018
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
This book explores Nelson Mandela's personal development as well as his public activism, from his childhood as a member of the Thembu royal house through his emergence in the 1950s as a nationalist celebrity, his martyrdom in prison and, finally, his contemporary canonization as a transnational icon of liberal democracy. Though primarily a political biography which will concern itself with Mandela's role as an historical actor, this book also looks at the effects of political myth. Tom Lodge explored the different ways in which Nelson Mandela's life has been interpreted and the effects of his leadership on the making of modern South Africa, and, more generally, his importance as an exemplary modern day hero.

Nelson Mandela: A Very Short Introduction

Nelson Mandela: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Elleke Boehmer
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0192803018
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 225

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book explores Nelson Mandela's personal development as well as his public activism, from his childhood as a member of the Thembu royal house through his emergence in the 1950s as a nationalist celebrity, his martyrdom in prison and, finally, his contemporary canonization as a transnational icon of liberal democracy. Though primarily a political biography which will concern itself with Mandela's role as an historical actor, this book also looks at the effects of political myth. Tom Lodge explored the different ways in which Nelson Mandela's life has been interpreted and the effects of his leadership on the making of modern South Africa, and, more generally, his importance as an exemplary modern day hero.

Nelson Mandela: A Very Short Introduction

Nelson Mandela: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Elleke Boehmer
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191577723
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
As well as being a remarkable statesman and one of the world's longest-detained political prisoners, Nelson Mandela has become an exemplary figure of non-racialism and democracy, a moral giant. Once a man with an unknown face, he became after his 1994 release one of the most internationally recognizable images of our time. Set within a biographical frame, this Very Short Introduction explores the reasons why his story is so important to us in the world at large today, and what his achievements signify. It shows how our picture of Mandela is a great deal more complicated than the legend suggests: quality of character is combined with his talents as a performer, his maverick ability to absorb transnational influences, his proximity to outstanding colleagues, his steely survival skills, and his postmodern ease with media image. It shows how many different interconnected stories, histories, values, and symbols combine in the famous name Nelson Mandela. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Nelson Mandela

Nelson Mandela PDF Author: Elleke Boehmer
Publisher: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
ISBN: 9781402768897
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
A remarkable statesman and one of the world’s longest-detained political prisoners (1964-90), Nelson Mandela has become an exemplary figure of anti-racist struggle and democracy, a moral giant. This fascinating and uncompromising biographical study paints a complex portrait of Mandela that goes beyond hagiography: it examines his quality of character, his theatrical flair, his maverick ability to absorb transnational influences, his steely survival skills, his postmodern ease with media image, and his ethical legacy.

Notes to the Future

Notes to the Future PDF Author: Nelson Mandela
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1451675410
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
From the heart and soul of visionary Nobel Peace Prize winner Nelson Mandela, a collection of his most uplifting, time-honored quotes that have inspired our world and offer a path for peace. “The book that you hold in your hands is nothing short of a miracle.” —Desmond Tutu, from the Introduction Notes to the Future is the definitive book of quotations from one of the great leaders of our time. This collection—gathered from privileged access to Mandela’s vast personal archive of private papers, speeches, correspondence, and audio recordings—features more than three hundred quotations spanning more than sixty years and includes his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. These inspirational quotations, organized into four sections—Struggle, Victory, Wisdom, and Future—are both universal and deeply personal. We see Mandela’s sense of humor, his loneliness and despair, his thoughts on fatherhood, and the reluctant leader who had no choice but to become the man history demanded. “A good pen can also remind us of the happiest moments in our lives, bring noble ideas into our dens, our blood and our souls. It can turn tragedy into hope and victory” (from a letter to Zindzi Mandela, written on Robben Island, February 10, 1980).

Revolution and Non-violence in Tolstoy, Gandhi, and Mandela

Revolution and Non-violence in Tolstoy, Gandhi, and Mandela PDF Author: Imraan Coovadia
Publisher:
ISBN: 0198863691
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
Explores the writings and revolutionary thought of three connected figures--Leo Tolstoy, Mohandas Gandhi, and Nelson Mandela--on the subject of violence and non-violence and the way they resisted revolutionary thinking in favour of an alternative model of civic transformation.

Twentieth-Century South Africa

Twentieth-Century South Africa PDF Author: William Beinart
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 019160674X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 553

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Book Description
An innovative examination of the forces - both destructive and dynamic - which have shaped twentieth-century South Africa. This book provides a stimulating introduction to the history of South Africa in the twentieth century. It draws on the rich and lively tradition of radical history writing on that country and, to a greater extent than previous accounts, weaves economic and cultural history into the political narrative. Apartheid and industrialization, especially mining, are central theme, as is the rise of nationalism in the Afrikaner and African communities. But the author also emphasizes the neglected significance of rural experiences and local identities in shaping political consciousness. The roles played by such key figure as Smuts, Verwoerd, de Klerk, Plaatje, and Mandela are explored, while recent historiographical trends are reflected in analyses of rural protest, white cultural politics, the vitality of black urban life, and environmental decay. The book assesses the analysis of black reactions to apartheid, the rise of the ANC. The concluding chapter brings this seminal history up-to-date, tackling the issues and events from 1994-1999 - in particular the success of Mandela and the ANC in seeing through the end of apartheid rule. It also looks at the chances of a stable future for the new-found democracy in South Africa.

Conversations with Myself

Conversations with Myself PDF Author: Nelson Mandela
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1429988398
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 478

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Book Description
Nelson Mandela is widely considered to be one of the most inspiring and iconic figures of our age. Now, after a lifetime of taking pen to paper to record thoughts and events, hardships and victories, he has bestowed his entire extant personal papers, which offer an unprecedented insight into his remarkable life. A singular international publishing event, Conversations with Myself draws on Mandela's personal archive of never-before-seen materials to offer unique access to the private world of an incomparable world leader. Journals kept on the run during the anti-apartheid struggle of the early 1960s; diaries and draft letters written in Robben Island and other South African prisons during his twenty-seven years of incarceration; notebooks from the postapartheid transition; private recorded conversations; speeches and correspondence written during his presidency—a historic collection of documents archived at the Nelson Mandela Foundation is brought together into a sweeping narrative of great immediacy and stunning power. An intimate journey from Mandela's first stirrings of political consciousness to his galvanizing role on the world stage, Conversations with Myself illuminates a heroic life forged on the front lines of the struggle for freedom and justice. While other books have recounted Mandela's life from the vantage of the present, Conversations with Myself allows, for the first time, unhindered insight into the human side of the icon.

Long Walk to Freedom

Long Walk to Freedom PDF Author: Nelson Mandela
Publisher: Little, Brown
ISBN: 0759521042
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 598

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Book Description
"Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand history – and then go out and change it." –President Barack Obama Nelson Mandela was one of the great moral and political leaders of his time: an international hero whose lifelong dedication to the fight against racial oppression in South Africa won him the Nobel Peace Prize and the presidency of his country. After his triumphant release in 1990 from more than a quarter-century of imprisonment, Mandela was at the center of the most compelling and inspiring political drama in the world. As president of the African National Congress and head of South Africa's antiapartheid movement, he was instrumental in moving the nation toward multiracial government and majority rule. He is still revered everywhere as a vital force in the fight for human rights and racial equality. Long Walk to Freedom is his moving and exhilarating autobiography, destined to take its place among the finest memoirs of history's greatest figures. Here for the first time, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela told the extraordinary story of his life -- an epic of struggle, setback, renewed hope, and ultimate triumph. The book that inspired the major motion picture Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

The Future: A Very Short Introduction

The Future: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Jennifer M. Gidley
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0191054240
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
From the beginning of time, humans have been driven by both a fear of the unknown and a curiosity to know. We have always yearned to know what lies ahead, whether threat or safety, scarcity or abundance. Throughout human history, our forebears tried to create certainty in the unknown, by seeking to influence outcomes with sacrifices to gods, preparing for the unexpected with advice from oracles, and by reading the stars through astrology. As scientific methods improve and computer technology develops we become ever more confident of our capacity to predict and quantify the future by accumulating and interpreting patterns form the past, yet the truth is there is still no certainty to be had. In this Very Short Introduction Jennifer Gidley considers some of our most burning questions: What is "the future "?; Is the future a time yet to come?; Or is it a utopian place?; Does the future have a history?; Is there only one future or are there many possible futures? She asks if the future can ever be truly predicted or if we create our own futures - both hoped for and feared - by our thoughts, feelings, and actions, and concludes by analysing how we can learn to study the future. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

The British Empire: A Very Short Introduction

The British Empire: A Very Short Introduction PDF Author: Ashley Jackson
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191654094
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 161

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Book Description
From the eighteenth century until the 1950s the British Empire was the biggest political entity in the world. The territories forming this empire ranged from tiny islands to vast segments of the world's major continental land masses. The British Empire left its mark on the world in a multitude of ways, many of them permanent. In this Very Short Introduction, Ashley Jackson introduces and defines the British Empire, reviewing its historiography by answering a series of key questions: What was the British Empire, and what were its main constituent parts? What were the phases of imperial expansion and contraction and the general causes of expansion and contraction? How was the Empire ruled? What were its economic effects? What were the cultural implications of empire, in Britain and its colonies? What was life like for people living under imperial rule? What are the legacies of the British Empire and how should we view its place in world history? ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.