About the Book
Nelson Mandela was not only South Africa’s best-known and most loved figure but also enjoyed an extraordinary global eminence. But how was his iconic stature achieved? Who was involved in burnishing his image, especially during his years in prison? How much of his towering reputation derived from Mandela-the-man, his deeds and words, and how much was the product of a consciously constructed version, Mandela-the-myth?
This pocket biography seeks to retrieve the man from the myth. It distinguishes the actual, historical Mandela. It recognises Mandela as a compelling and complex political actor, but also sees him as subject to the constraints and contradictions that describe any political career. Colin Bundy has written a post-hagiographic life history: it revisits the outline of a life well-known, but shines fresh light on its episodes, and concludes by asking how Madiba will be remembered. The answers are more complicated than first glance might suggest.
About the Author
Colin Bundy is one of South Africa’s foremost historians and the former Principal of Green Templeton College, Oxford. His books include The Rise and Fall of the South African Peasantry and, most recently, the Jacana pocketbook Short-changed? South Africa since Apartheid.
