This is a trade paperback edition of the book. The correct ISBN on the book is 9781868421015.
| ||||||||||||||||||
Book Description
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Mbeki the Man,
This review is from: Thabo Mbeki The Dream Deferred (Paperback)
This is a beast of a book, but nearly every one of the 800 pages is interesting and relevant to modern day South Africa. The parts I found most compelling included the chapters on Mbeki's time in London, his time in Lusaka, and his return (and early sidelining in Johannesburg). This is a terrific read that covers the former South African President better than anything that has been published -- or probably ever will be published. Flaws and all, Mbeki is one of Africa's most important leaders.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Epic, Bloated, Overwritten, Eloquent...,
By
This review is from: Thabo Mbeki The Dream Deferred (Paperback)
...It's hard to sum up "The Dream Deferred" in a word or two. But whatever else it is, it is THE great South African political biography, a book that must be read by anyone interested in the history of the country. It is eloquent, fascinating and compulsively readable, in spite of its 800 pages.
The book succeeds in evoking the mystery and tragedy of Thabo Mbeki, a brilliant, failed man, groomed in exile to lead the ANC in power, yet ultimately brought down by...well, by WHAT exactly? By ego? A mania for power? Racial hyper-sensitivity? A lack of the common touch? The book doesn't answer the question. Its timing couldn't have been worse: conceived at the high point of Mbeki's power and published immediately prior to his downfall, "The Dream Deferred" lacks the benefit of hindsight and is too busy with high-concept "literary" themes like exile and homecoming to attend to "small" matters like utter political miscalculation. But even if it doesn't have the last word on Mbeki's career, the book raises great questions and is filled with arresting insights. It's highly recommended. That said, readers looking for conventional political biography might be disappointed. The book is very much about Mbeki's life, not his times. It is high-brow journalism, not true scholarship. Just when the reader is expecting real history -- about the intricate negotiations to unban the ANC, say, or about the economic policies of post-apartheid South Africa -- the author backs off and delivers long meditations on Mbeki's tortured soul. Some of his interpretive gloss is profound, all of it is interesting -- even when it borders on pop-psychology -- but there is too much of it.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
