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Invictus: Nelson Mandela And The Game That Made A Nation (2009)

by John Carlin(Favorite Author)

4.08 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

0143117157 (ISBN13: 9780143117155)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Penguin Books

review 1: The story of how Nelson Mandela became a free man and then united South Africa with the help of rugby.The story is fascinating, a real-life fairy tale. South Africa was on the brink of civil war but in large part through the efforts of Mandela, disaster was averted, and even turned into triumph. Perhaps this book goes too far in sanctifying Mandela, but by all accounts he was the true statesman depicted. In fact, verbatim quotes from interviews with the main characters lend veracity to the story itself. On a side note, the author's structure was often somewhat less than smooth, with run-on sentences of ambiguous meaning.The second half of this book was the basis for the movie Invictus, a favorite of mine.
review 2: Far exceeding the movie, Invictus is an accoun... moret of how Mandela's unique political genius allowed South Africa to avoid a Bosnia-esque conflict in the early nineties. Going far beyond just the 1995 Rugby World Cup, the author interviewed the Afrikaans leaders who were ready to go to war against Mandela, and how they were convinced by him personally to put down their arms and support the unity government. Mandela, in his willingness to use his personal charm as a weapon for unity, almost single-handedly saved South Africa from war. It also shows the power of sports to unify people across different political and racial strata. Also a great read about the game of rugby. less

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