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Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation | 
| Author: John Carlin
Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $15.02
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Avg. Customer Rating:  13 reviews
Sales Rank: 2911
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.1
ISBN: 1594201749
Dewey Decimal Number: 796.3330968
EAN: 9781594201745
ASIN: 1594201749
Publication Date: August 14, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 3.5 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Order with confidence. Code: B20081005210942T
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Product Description
A thrilling, inspiring account of one of the greatest charm offensives in historyNelson Mandelas decade-long campaign to unite his country, beginning in his jail cell and ending with a rugby tournament
In 1985, Nelson Mandela, then in prison for twenty-three years, set about winning over the fiercest proponents of apartheid, from his jailers to the head of South Africas military. First he earned his freedom and then he won the presidency in the nations first free election in 1994. But he knew that South Africa was still dangerously divided by almost fifty years of apartheid. If he couldnt unite his country in a visceral, emotional wayand fastit would collapse into chaos. He would need all the charisma and strategic acumen he had honed during half a century of activism, and hed need a cause all South Africans could share. Mandela picked one of the more farfetched causes imaginablethe national rugby team, the Springboks, who would host the sports World Cup in 1995.
Against the giants of the sport, the Springboks chances of victory were remote. But their chances of capturing the hearts of most South Africans seemed remoter still, as they had long been the embodiment of white supremacist rule. During apartheid, the all-white Springboks and their fans had belted out racist fight songs, and blacks would come to Springbok matches to cheer for whatever team was playing against them. Yet Mandela believed that the Springboks could embodyand engagethe new South Africa. And the Springboks themselves embraced the scheme. Soon South African TV would carry images of the team singing Nkosi Sikelele Afrika, the longtime anthem of black resistance to apartheid.
As their surprising string of victories lengthened, their home-field advantage grew exponentially. South Africans of every color and political stripe found themselves falling for the team. When the Springboks took to the field for the championship match against New Zealands heavily favored squad, Mandela sat in his presidential box wearing a Springbok jersey while sixty-two-thousand fans, mostly white, chanted Nelson! Nelson! Millions more gathered around their TV sets, whether in dusty black townships or leafy white suburbs, to urge their team toward victory. The Springboks won a nail-biter that day, defying the oddsmakers and capping Mandelas miraculous ten-year-long effort to bring forty-three million South Africans together in an enduring bond.
John Carlin, a former South Africa bureau chief for the London Independent, offers a singular portrait of the greatest statesman of our time in action, blending the volatile cocktail of race, sport, and politics to intoxicating effect. He draws on extensive interviews with Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and dozens of other South Africans caught up in Mandelas momentous campaign, and the Springboks unlikely triumph. As he makes stirringly clear, their championship transcended the mere thrill of victory to erase ancient hatreds and make a nation whole.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 8 more reviews...
A Mandela For All Seasons October 3, 2008
This dazzling book could have been called "Loving the Enemy." That is, in fact, what Nelson Mandela did to prevent a much feared bloodbath in South Africa as it passed from the hated Apartheid regime to majority rule.
"Playing the Enemy" shows how he did it - first by winning over his prison guards through forgiveness and simple human kindness then by his shrewd seduction of the white government leadership and finally by making the obsession of white South Africa, its Rugby team, the team of all South Africans - black and white.
It's The Greatest Story Ever Told for the twentieth century - and beyond!
Playing the Enemy is a must read for anyone who wants to understand Mandela's genius September 30, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A marvelous book. Anyone who wants to understand the hope (and the chances for failure) in post-apartheid SA should read this book, particularly in the light of Mbeki's failure and the test that is to follow.
"Playing The Enemy" is inspiring September 30, 2008
There has been plenty written about the master statesman Nelson Mandela, but John Carlin's story about how Mandela transformed his nation by leveraging the sport of rugby is truly inspiring. This book is a must read for anyone who has ever been discouraged from creating change. Mandela's mindset and approach to liberating his country is unmatched.
Forging a National Consciousness through Mutual Respect September 29, 2008
Playing the Enemy is a very timely book. In these days when nations are often more divided than before, Nelson Mandela's instinct to show respect, friendliness, and common purpose with those who saw him as an enemy is a beacon that lights up the potential for all people to come together to accomplish more. John Carlin has used the Rugby World Cup imaginatively to illustrate the essence of President Mandela's approach. Mr. Carlin is a wonderful story teller, and you'll feel chills as you read the many great moments he brilliantly captures in Playing the Enemy.
Leaders have always used foreign enemies to bring their purpose together. Who realized that this could be done at the level of sport rather than through war as a way to unify a country where people were deeply suspicious (even paranoid) about one another?
I was glad to see that Mr. Carlin provided lots of background about how someone imprisoned for decades became the leader of a reconstituted nation in South Africa and went on to accomplish things that not even the most optimistic would have expected. President Mandela's story is one for the ages, and this way of telling the story makes it easier to understand for those who never saw South Africa during the Apartheid regime.
Although I had long studied and worked to help change the government in South Africa from the inside and outside, the political impact of the international boycott of the South African rugby team had been lost to me. I hope those who would like to encourage governments to behave more appropriately towards their people will remember this example.
Bravo, Mr. Carlin!
A masterpiece September 28, 2008
This book is an absolute masterpiece of writing, a true gem and one that will certainly melt the hearts of many. On the surface it is about a rugby match between South Africa's Springboks and New Zealand in 1995. But it is representative of much more because, as the author shows, this match helped bring together South Africa after the fall of Apartheid, healing, at least in a small way, the anger of the blacks and the fear of the whites that the new nation would reject them. This was clear when Mandela came to support the rugby team, which had been seen as a symbol of Afrikaner nationalism, wholeheartedly. The book is more than the game, it covers many important characters and their reactions on the day of the match. The author is certainly an expert on South Africa, having lived there as a journalist, and he understands the soul of many of the people of the country. He understands also the history of the Afrikaners, the tradition of the 'Bitter enders' who had fought the british to 'bitter end' in the Boer War. This is a very nice book, an important story and one that will surely inspire. Unfortunatly the story paints a perfect utopian pciture of South Africa, one that has not stood the test of time. With the murder rate the highest in the world, AIDs running wild, farm invasions and the prospect of a new president whose motto used to be 'bring me my machine gun', South Africa's 1995 rugby match may well have just been a moment of reconciliation that could not last.
Seth J. Frantzman
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