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Sign up todayYoung Mandela
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Learn moreNelson Mandela is well known throughout the world as a heroic leader who symbolizes freedom and moral authority. He is fixed in the public mind as the world’s elder statesman—the gray-haired man with a kindly smile who spent twenty-seven years in prison before becoming the first black president of South Africa.
But Nelson Mandela was not always elderly or benign. In Young Mandela, David James Smith takes us deep into the heart of racist South Africa to paint a portrait of the Mandela that many have forgotten: the committed revolutionary who left his family behind to live on the run, adopting false names, and organizing the first strikes to overthrow the apartheid state. Young Mandela lifts the curtain on an icon’s first steps to greatness.
David James Smith wrote for Esquire before joining the London Sunday Times Magazine. He is the author of three true-crime books, The Sleep of Reason, All about Jill, and Supper with the Crippens: A New Investigation into One of the Most Notorious Domestic Murders in History. He lives in England with his partner and their four children.
Allyson Johnson is an actress and singer who began performing at age twelve as coanchor of Bubble Gum Digest, for which she won an Emmy. After earning a degree in psychology from Brown University, she moved to New York where she became a social worker before shifting to a career in television and radio. Johnson has recorded countless commercials, promos, audiobooks, narrations, and animation series.
Reviews
“Smith succeeds in bringing [Mandela] to life, wading in where other biographers have feared to tread to provide much new information and genuine insight.”
“This book is valuable and fascinating, in the new detail it brings to the account of Mandela’s life.”
“Tells us not only of the man but of the continent and era.”
“This is a long-overdue exploration of the making of the Mandela myth; one that refreshes a somewhat stale and overcrowded field.”
“What sets this biography apart is its author’s emphasis on Mandela’s character and associations in the development of his political career, from boyhood through the Rivonia Trial of 1963–1964; as well as the impact of politics on his personal life, from first wife Evelyn Mase—heretofore neglected in the historical record—to the ‘woman of his dreams,’ Winnie Madikizela. No hagiography, Smith’s measured study qualifies, lends nuance to, and even contradicts the mythology around Mandela’s background and formative influences.”
“Journalist and true-crime author Smith recounts the early life of the titular first black president of South Africa, carefully and skillfully weaving together evidence of Mandela’s all-too-human flaws with accounts of his political acumen and revolutionary struggle against apartheid. Narrator Allyson Johnson’s pronunciations of the numerous names and locales are flawless…Young Mandela will appeal to anyone wanting to learn more about the real man behind the legend.”
“Narrator Allyson Johnson…has a pleasant voice to listen to and handles the multitude of names and places with ease.”
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