Dare not linger : the presidential years

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Title:

Dare not linger : the presidential years

Author:

Mandela, Nelson, 1918-2013 author.

ISBN:

9780374134716

Edition:

1st American ed.

Physical Description:

xix, 358 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 24 cm

Contents:

The challenge of freedom -- Negotiating democracy -- A free and fair election -- Getting into the union buildings -- National unity -- The presidency and the Constitution -- Parliament -- Traditional leadership and democracy -- Transformation of the state -- Reconciliation -- Social and economic transformation -- Negotiating the media -- On the African and world stages.

Personal Subject:

Mandela, Nelson, 1918-2013.

Subject Term:

Presidents -- South Africa -- Biography.

Geographic Term:

South Africa -- Politics and government -- 1994-

Genre:

Biographies

Added Author:

Langa, Mandla, 1950-

Summary:

"'I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom come responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended.'--Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom. In 1994, Nelson Mandela became the first president of a democratic South Africa. From the outset, he was committed to serving only a single five-year term. During his presidency, he and his government ensured that all of South Africa's citizens became equal before the law, and he laid the foundation for turning a country riven by centuries of colonialism and apartheid into a fully functioning democracy. Dare Not Linger is the story of Mandela's presidential years, drawing heavily on the memoir he began to write as he prepared to leave office, but was unable to finish. Now the acclaimed South African writer Mandla Langa has completed the task, using Mandela's unfinished draft, detailed notes that Mandela made as events were unfolding, and a wealth of unseen archival material. With a prologue by Mandela's widow, Graça Machel, the result is a vivid and often inspirational account of Mandela's presidency and the creation of a new democracy. It tells the story of a country in transition and the challenges Mandela faced as he strove to make his vision for a liberated South Africa a reality."--Dust jacket flap.

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Bayport Public Library	968.071092 MAN	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Hardwood Creek Library (Forest Lake)	968.071092 MAN	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Park Grove Library (Cottage Grove)	968.071092 MAN	Searching... Unknown
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	968.071092 MAN	Searching... Unknown
Searching... Stillwater Public Library	968.071092 MAN	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

The long-awaited second volume of Nelson Mandela's memoirs, left unfinished at his death and never before available, are here completed and expanded with notes and speeches written by Mandela during his historic presidency, making for a moving sequel to his worldwide bestseller Long Walk to Freedom.

"I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not ended."

In 1994, Nelson Mandela became the first president of a democratic South Africa. From the outset, he was committed to serving only a single five-year term. During his presidency, he and his government ensured that all of South Africa's citizens became equal before the law, and he laid the foundation for turning a country riven by centuries of colonialism and apartheid into a fully functioning democracy.

Dare Not Linger is the story of Mandela's presidential years, drawing heavily on the memoir he began to write as he prepared to leave office, but was unable to finish. Now the acclaimed South African writer Mandla Langa has completed the task, using Mandela's unfinished draft, detailed notes that Mandela made as events were unfolding, and a wealth of unseen archival material. With a prologue by Mandela's widow, Graça Machel, the result is a vivid and often inspirational account of Mandela's presidency and the creation of a new democracy. It tells the story of a country in transition and the challenges Mandela faced as he strove to make his vision for a liberated South Africa a reality.

Author Notes

Nelson Mandela was born in Transkei, South Africa, on July 18, 1918. He joined the African National Congress in 1944 and was engaged in resistance against the ruling National Party's apartheid policies after 1948. From 1964 to 1982, he was incarcerated at Robben Island Prison and then later moved to Pollsmoor Prison, during which time his reputation as a potent symbol of resistance to the anti-apartheid movement grew steadily. Released from prison in 1990, Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of South Africa in 1994. He is the author of the international bestseller Long Walk to Freedom . He died on December 5, 2013, at age ninety-five.

Mandla Langa was born in 1950 in Durban, South Africa. After being arrested in 1976, he went into exile and has lived in Botswana, Mozambique, and Angola, as well as Hungary, Zambia, and the United Kingdom, where he was the ANC's Cultural Representative. A writer and journalist, he was the first South African to be awarded the Arts Council of Great Britain bursary for creative writing and has been a columnist for the Sunday Independent and the New Nation. He is also the author of several acclaimed novels, including The Lost Colours of the Chameleon , which won the 2009 Commonwealth Prize for Best Book in the African Region.

Graça Machel was born in Mozambique in 1945. A teacher, human rights activist, international advocate for women's and children's rights, and politician, she was married--from 1975 until his death in 1986--to Samora Machel, the first president of Mozambique. In July 1988 she married Nelson Mandela. Among numerous awards she has received the United Nations' Nansen Medal in recognition of her long-standing humanitarian work, particularly on behalf of refugee children.

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

A memoir of Mandela's term as president of newly democratic South Africa.Catapulting from prison to executive office soon after attaining freedom, Mandela (1918-2013) pledged two things: he would serve only one five-year term, as opposed to the entrenched presidents who preceded him, and he would ensure that all South African citizens were treated equally under the law. After leaving office, he began writing a memoir of his time in office, but he did not complete it. Working with his drafts, South African novelist Langa (The Lost Colours of the Chameleon, 2008, etc.) delivers a book that is less polished (because it's told in two voices) than it would have been had Mandela finished it himself and that is a touch remote at times: "What Mandela said in the snap debate was in essence a reprise of his earlier speech in the Senate, but it was accompanied by a reminder of the fundamental goals of transition, and stressed that it was imperative that there should be a national effort to achieve those goals." Nonetheless, it is a critically important document as the principal firsthand record of Mandela's tumultuous time in office and the often ingenious measures he took to bring about peace. For instance, he had long steeped himself in the history and language of the Afrikaners, the Dutch-descended white settlers of South Africa who were agents of apartheid but not its authors, since the "Colour Bar was a British colonial invention." Mandela calculated that if the Afrikaners could be persuaded to act as a bloc in support of the new democracy he headed, then "they would form the backbone of its defense." So it was that he was able to head off a free-state movement and include Afrikaners, as well as other Europeans, in government. Though without the poetry of Mandela's memoir Long Walk to Freedom (1994), the book contains many such practical lessons in governance.Essential to students of Mandela's political career as well as of modern African history. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Graça Machel

Prologue	p. ix
A Note to the Reader	p. xi
Preface	p. xi
1 The Challenge of Freedom	p. 1
2 Negotiating Democracy	p. 15
3 A Free and Fair Election	p. 37
4 Getting into the Union Buildings	p. 61
5 National Unity	p. 87
6 The Presidency and the Constitution	p. 121
7 Parliament	p. 139
8 Traditional Leadership and Democracy	p. 153
9 Transformation of the State	p. 175
10 Reconciliation	p. 209
11 Social and Economic Transformation	p. 231
12 Negotiating the Media	p. 257
13 On the African and World Stages	p. 269
Epilogue	p. 287
Supplementary Information
Appendix A Abbreviations for Organisations	p. 296
Appendix B People, Places and Events	p. 298
Appendix C Timeline: 1990-99	p. 319
Appendix D Map of South Africa, c. 1996	p. 324
Notes	p. 326
Acknowledgements	p. 341
Index	p. 343

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