Thabo Mbeki: The Dream DeferredWhat happens to a dream deferred? This question, from one of President Thabo Mbeki's favourite poems by Langston Hughes, provides the thread for this magisterial new biography. In the long shadow of Nelson Mandela, Mbeki has attempted to forge an identity for himself as the symbol of modern Africa. And yet, as he prepares to leave office in 2009, his legacy remains intensely contested. This book is both 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. Mark Gevisser brings to life the voices and places that have made Thabo Mbeki -- the frontier of the Eastern Cape; 'Swinging Britain' and neo-Stalinist Moscow in the sixties; 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 Englishmen' to revolutionaries to heads of state and Mbeki's own transition from doctrinaire communism to economic liberalism. He comes to grips with the current political turmoil by examining the history of a man who has carried, on his shoulders, the collective burden of a country seeking to realise a dream too long deferred. |
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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 Durban Eastern Cape economic elected Epainette Mbeki Essop Essop Pahad exile father freedom friends going Govan Mbeki Gunby Hare Jacob Zuma Jama Joe Slovo Johannesburg July Klerk Kwanda later leadership Letter liberation movement lived Lovedale Lusaka Mail&Guardian Mayibuye Archives Mbeki told Mbewuleni meeting Modise Moeletsi Moerane Moscow Mpahlwa Mugabe National negotiations Nelson Mandela Netshitenzhe never Nigeria Nokwe Oliver Tambo organisation Pahad Party perhaps political Pretoria Ramaphosa recalls relationship response revolutionary Robben Island role SACP seemed Sisulu Slabbert Slovo South African Soviet Sunday Sussex Swaziland talk Thabo Mbeki things tion Transkei white South Africans wrote young Youth Zanele Zanele Mbeki Zimbabwe