Mandela: The Authorised Biography By Anthony Sampson

When Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress declared victory over the bitter injustice of apartheid, some thought South Africa’s future was assured. But despite Mandela’s mission of reconciliation, rampant inequality remains; race relations are uneasy, violence is endemic and many in the ANC appear to have lost sight of the liberation ideals. With the election in 2009 of Jacob Zuma, a charismatic populist embroiled in scandal, uncertainty over the trajectory of the nation has only intensified.

South Africa now stands at a crossroads, and award-winning journalist Alec Russell draws on his deep knowledge of the country to tell us how it got there and to give us a compelling account, revised and updated for this edition, of the journey from Mandela to Zuma.

Twelve dazzling short stories exploring the ties that bind men and women, parents and children, Africa and the United States: In ‘A Private Experience,’ a medical student hides from a violent riot with a poor Muslim woman.

The young mother in ‘Imitation’ finds her comfortable life in Philadelphia threatened when her husband moves his mistress into their Lagos home. The title story depicts the choking loneliness of a Nigerian girl in an America that is nothing like the country she expected.

Searing and profound, suffused with beauty, sorrow, and longing, these stories map the collision of cultures and the deeply human struggle to reconcile them. The Thing Around Your Neck is a resounding confirmation of the prodigious literary powers of one of our most essential writers.