The definitive book on post-apartheid South Africa, from the new dawn of Mandela s rule to the current uncertain prospects under Jacob Zuma
Alec Russell is World News Editor of the Financial Times and was formerly their Johannesburg bureau chief. He has been a foreign correspondent since arriving in Romania aged 23, ten days after the 1989 Christmas Revolution, to start his career in journalism. He previously covered the wars in the former Yugoslavia and the end of apartheid for the Daily Telegraph, where he was Foreign Editor from 2001 to 2003. He has won several prizes and commendations in the annual British Press Awards. His writing from southern Africa earned him a prestigious award for the best published feature on Africa in 2007. He is the author of two previous books, and lives in London.
"This is the book we have all been waiting for - the book that
takes us beyond the easy assumptions and lazy comfort of the
Mandela era and into what Alec Russell calls the second struggle.
Eloquently he shows how transforming the magic of freedom into a
nuts-and-bolts change in the lives of ordinary people is turning
out to be far more difficult than anyone could have imagined. The
strength and power of Russell's book lies not just in the big - and
often disturbing - conclusions he has reached but in the little
details that have got him to that point. This is not a book written
from afar...After Mandela could only have been written by a man who
actually cares about what happens to the people he has met on his
journey through South Africa's recent history."
*George Alagiah*
"Exciting contemporary history, a must for anyone concerned with
what is happening now. Scathing in his criticism of newly rich
magnates, he also exposes the two-faced liberals"
*Booklist*
"Gripping, lively and immensely readable"
*Daily Telegraph*
"An informative, nuanced, and provocative end-of-era report ...
Layered with anecdote, historical background and close scrutiny of
recent events ... After Mandela is a valuable contribution to the
debate about the future of the rainbow nation. Alec Russell has
looked at the country with a sympathetic and knowledgeable eye and
he leaves his reader with a deep understanding of the challenges to
come."
*Financial Times*
"Russell does not pull punches in describing the widespread
disillusionment ... but he does seek to put the ruling party's
shortcomings in context"
*Observer*
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