By focusing on Mbeki and the ANC, this book presents a nuanced portrait of the black experience under apartheid and sheds light on the future of the nation under a fresh regime. It presents social history of South Africa's past and future.

A gripping social history of South Africa's past and future and beautifully narrated by one of Africa's most esteemed journalists, From Struggle to Liberation sheds light on the future of the nation under a new regime. With unprecedented access to Thabo Mbeki and the top brass in the African National Congress, Mark Gevisser weaves a nuanced portrait of the black experience under apartheid. Revelations about the current president and the politics that continue to shape South Africa include: - Thabo Mbeki's difficult relationship with his own political activist and largely absent father Govan Mbeki, who was imprisoned on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela. - How the death of his son Kwanda in the diamond mines and the murder of his brother Jama directly affected his leadership and will continue to shape the governance of Africa for years to come. - The reasons behind Mbeki's puzzling refusal to admit that the HIV virus causes AIDS, which in South Africa claims 800 lives per day, and his support of corrupt governments such as Zimbabwe's. - Inside rivalry between Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, the populist leader destined to take over as president in 2009. This accessible account of a monumental period in world history is the definitive look at contemporary South Africa.

Publisher:

Palgrave Macmillan

ISBN:

9780230611009

Publication date:

March 2009

Length:

231mm

Width:

165mm

Thickness:

36mm

Weight:

567g

Pages:

376

Illustrations:

Includes 8 pp b/w photos

'Cerebral yet intimate, and beautifully written' - Richard Calland, The Daily Mail and The Guardian 'Anyone who wants to go beyond those cliches, and also to understand what has happened in South Africa since the end of white rule should read [this]. In the process they will get swept up in an extraordinarily compelling and at times infuriating and tragic story...Far and away the most authoritative book on Nelson Mandela's successor...Gevisser - one of South Africa's foremost journalists - writes with passion and conviction...Neither simplistic nor synthetic. Rather it is one of the great explanatory narratives of South Africa over the past 60-odd years' - Alec Russell, Financial Times Magazine 'Retraces in great detail the president's life from his childhood in rural Transkei to his 28 years in exile and his ascent to power. In the process he sheds considerable light on more than half a century of South Africa's difficult history...essential reading for anyone intrigued by South Africa's complex philosopher-king' - The Economist 'Deep and fascinating [study]...a human portrait of a man variously called an enigma, Machiavellian, an intellectual, a visionary and Stalinist' - The Times (SA)