Mandela: The Authorized Biography (Vintage) [Paperback]

If you believe there are no modern heroes - that fortitude and unselfish judgement in the face of adversity are out-of-date virtues, you need to read this book. That Sampson shows the whole man so well (with admittedly a few frailities) adds depth to the tremendous courage, excellent judgement, and magnanimity Mandela demonstrated his entire life, even when the cause of the ANC he led seemed hopeless. Along the way the book gives an excellent view of South African history during Mandela's adulthood. If you are not very familiar with Mandela or South Africa you might do better to start with Mandela's own book, "Long Walk to Freedom" which doesn't cover quite so much ground and is more on a human scale. Both books are inspiring.

Sampson's book diminishes the achievement of Mandela by his failure to recognise that the years 1952-64 were not so much a struggle against the Pretoria regime but one for the leadership of the increasingly politicised African population. The postwar townships had thrown up a volatile society that found Mandela, Tambo, Lutuli and Sisulu too tied to the notion that status and education not policies and grass roots activism were enough to guarantee leadership. It is foolish to dismiss the Maoist attitudes of the Africanist Movement and their split into the PAC as motivated by dislike of communists. The ANC and their SACP allies were too elitist and undemocratic for the time. Mandela recognised this almost too late - Tambo changed the constitution in 1957 to stop the township hooligans" from taking over the party rather than deal with them. When the PAC campaign forced both ANC and PAC underground it was PAC activism that forced Mandela into violence and he again displayed his remoteness from the masses by having to rely on urban middle class white professionals to run his military campaign - Bernstein, Goldberg, Wolpe et al. By the time of Rivonia Mandela had been upstaged completely by the PAC and again in 1976 by Biko's movement. In 1980 the PAC army was massacred in its Tanzanian camp for opposing dialogue and detente, leaving an open field to the ANC (the present PAC has no connection with the real party). What Sampson fails to address is how Mandela, almost politically bankrupt in 1964, managed to emerge as a national leader. Sampson does not recognise that support for Mandela after 1964 came because even his rivals were appalled by such a savage sentence for what were quite innocuous activities. The ANC's moderate reformist political attitudes had driven away African support and only became acceptable once the cold war had ended and alternative doctrines had been discredited. Such a study would make Mandela a more facinating character. To portray his career as a sort of pre-ordained Messianic march backed all the way by adulating African masses is bad history and does Mandela injustice.

If you need to know Nelson Mandela, this is the book to read. This book's weaknesses are evident: It is written from a British viewpoint, and basically takes for granted a knowledge of South African history and geography most Americans do not possess (though they should). It also soft pedals the problems in Mandela's relationship with Winnie, though that is understandable. I have a feeling that not too many people could understand it. But it does a great job of making us see how the man was shaped and became what he is, and how he stands as a fearless, remarkable leader.