Thabo Mbeki: The Dream DeferredWhat happens to a dream deferred? This question, from one of Thabo Mbeki's favourite poems by Langston Hughes, provides the thread for this magisterial biography of the second president of a democratic South Africa. In the long shadow of Nelson Mandela, Mbeki attempted to forge an identity for himself as the symbol of modern Africa. Mark Gevisser brings to life the voices and places that made Thabo Mbeki: the frontier of the Eastern Cape; 'Swinging' Britain and neo-Stalinist Moscow in the 1960s; the fraught world of African exile; the confusion of the transition. He examines the meaning of home and exile; of fatherhood and family. He tells the story of South Africa's black elite over a turbulent century - from 'black Englishman' to revolutionaries to heads of state - and Mbeki's own transition from doctrinaire communism to economic liberalism. Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred is a work of deep scholarship and a gripping, highly readable story. By tracing the path of Mbeki's life, it sheds new light on his political personality and provides unprecedented insight into the dramatic role he has played in South African history. |
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activists Adelaide Tambo African Renaissance Afrikaner AIDS ANC Archives ANC leaders ANC’s apartheid April armed struggle asked became become believed Buthelezi Chris Hani communist comrades conference delegation deputy president Durban Eastern Cape economic election Epainette Mbeki Essop Essop Pahad exile father freedom friends going Govan Mbeki Hare ideology intellectual interview Jacob Zuma Jama Joe Slovo Johannesburg Klerk Kwanda later leadership Letter liberation movement Lovedale Lusaka Mail&Guardian Mayibuye Archives Mbeki told Mbewuleni meeting minister Modise Moeletsi Moerane Moscow Mpahlwa Mugabe National negotiations Nelson Mandela Netshitenzhe never Nigeria Oliver Tambo organisation Pahad Party people’s perhaps political Pretoria Ramaphosa recalls relationship response revolutionary Robben Island SACP seemed Sisulu Slabbert Slovo South African Soviet Sunday Sussex Swaziland talk Thabo Mbeki things Transkei underground white South Africans wrote young Youth Zanele Zanele Mbeki Zimbabwe