Nelson Mandela Day is July 18, 2020, as every year. On his birthday, the whole world remembers one of the leaders who fought to the end to defeat racism and apartheid not only in South Africa, but also in the world whole. An icon that is rightly and dutifully celebrated on this world day which can also be an opportunity to rediscover its work and values through some books dedicated to Madiba.
Without obligation of exhaustiveness, we have chosen five titles from five books, among Italian and international publishers, to tell the story of Nelson MandelaLong path to freedom (Feltrinelli)
Simply the starting point in the discovery of Mandela. A rich and exciting autobiography, written with the passion that Madiba has always put in his writings and speeches and whose material was collected during the 27 long years of prison in Robben Island. Inevitable and essential.
Me, Nelson Mandela. Conversations with myself (Sperling & Kupfer)
The book that tells the man and not the icon. A collection of completed and unfinished writings, notes, doubts, thoughts, fears and certainties. A story of a three-dimensional life in the living voice of those who lived it, far from any sort of hagiography. The Sperling & Kupfer edition is accompanied by a preface by Barack Obama which embellishes the text.
Love your enemy: Nelson Mandela and the rugby match that gave birth to a nation (Sperling & Kupfer)
An essay by John Carlin that recounts a moment of "turning point" in South Africa. A feat, the one that was accomplished during the Rugby World Cup in 1995, which saw the South African Springboks triumph against the All Blacks against all odds. From the book was made the film "Invictus - The invincible" by Clint Eastwood.
Move Your Shadow: South Africa, Black and White (Times Book)
With this work Joseph Lelyved won the Pulitzer Prize for the best essay. A story made by the New York Times correspondent that takes a look at all the atrocities, cruelties and inequalities of apartheid and segregationism. An important book to understand the importance of the figure of Mandela and the heroism of his action.
Iron Age (Einaudi)
Finally a novel. Written by Nobel laureate JM Coetzee and published in 1990, the Iron Age is a ruthless novel set right in apartheid South Africa. Another indispensable and painful work to understand the path taken by Mandela, the importance of his role in the redefinition of a nation marked by pain and above all the urgency of his action. A literary cross-section on a world that perhaps we risk to forget and that, instead, must remain in our memory. And with it, the radiant example of who has changed that world.
