Saturday, 15 March 2014

NELSON MANDELA – Mary Benson


‘During the lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of democratic and free society… It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if need be it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die’ – Nelson Mandela.

Imprisoned since 1962, Nelson Mandela has become a legend in his own lifetime; the embodiment of the struggle for liberation in South Africa and a vital symbol of a new society. As the international campaign for his release grows, he and his wife Winnie, continue to triumph over unremitting persecution.

In this timely and absorbing biography, Mary Benson describes Mandela’s life, work and ideas from his childhood in the royal family of the Thembu people to his membership and eventual leadership of the African National Congress. Her book sheds important light on the man whose release is widely regarded as the essential first step towards averting catastrophe in that tragic land.

The book is based on interviews with Nelson Mandela before he was imprisoned, on information gleaned from his family, close friends and comrades, and on his writings and statements in court published in two collections: No Easy Walk to Freedom (Heinemann) and The Struggle is My Life (IDAF). Part of the material used was published in Nelson Mandela (Panaf Books, 1980). The descriptions of life on Robban Island came partly from interviews with men who had served sentences there.  


Author Mary Benson  was born and educated in Pretoria, South Africa. During the second World War she served in the South African Women’s Army and was seconded to the British Army to become personal assistant to British Generals in the Middle East, Algeria, Italy, Greece and Vienna. From there she went to work among displaced persons in the Ruhr. Some time later she became secretary to David Lean.

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