South Africa’s Brave New World : The Beloved Country Since the End of Apartheid : First Edition – R. W. Johnson

R350.00

The universal jubilation that greeted Nelson Mandela’s inauguration as president of South Africa in 1994 and the process by which the nightmare of apartheid had been banished is one of the most thrilling, hopeful stories in the modern era: peaceful, rational change was possible and, as with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the weight of an oppressive history was suddenly lifted. R.W. Johnson’s major new book tells the story of South Africa from that magic period to the bitter disappointment of the present. As it turned out, it was not so easy for South Africa to shake off its past. The profound damage of apartheid meant there was not an adequate educated black middle class to run the new state and apartheid had done great psychological harm too, issues that no amount of goodwill could wish away. Equally damaging were the new leaders, many of whom had lived in exile or in prison for much of their adult lives and who tried to impose decrepit, Eastern Bloc political ideas on a world that had long moved on. This disastrous combination has had a terrible impact – it poisoned everything from big business to education to energy utilities to AIDS policy to relations with Zimbabwe.
At the heart of the book lies the ruinous figure of Thabo Mbeki, whose over-reaching ambitions led to catastrophic failure on almost every front. But, as Johnson makes clear, Mbeki may have contributed more than anyone else to bringing South Africa close to ‘failed state’ status, but he had plenty of help.
Hardcover, first Edition 2009, internally clean, dust wrapper good, shows some slight signs of shelf wear, but a very good + copy 701 pages a heavy book

In stock

SKU: 9780713995381 Category: Title: South Africa's Brave New World : The Beloved Country Since the End of Apartheid : First Edition
Author: R. W. Johnson
Publisher: Allen Lane - Pengiun Books
Year: 2009
ISBN10: 0713995386
ISBN13: 9780713995381
Condition: Very Good
Format: Hardcover
Inventory No: 1129

Description

The universal jubilation that greeted Nelson Mandela’s inauguration as president of South Africa in 1994 and the process by which the nightmare of apartheid had been banished is one of the most thrilling, hopeful stories in the modern era: peaceful, rational change was possible and, as with the fall of the Berlin Wall, the weight of an oppressive history was suddenly lifted. R.W. Johnson’s major new book tells the story of South Africa from that magic period to the bitter disappointment of the present. As it turned out, it was not so easy for South Africa to shake off its past. The profound damage of apartheid meant there was not an adequate educated black middle class to run the new state and apartheid had done great psychological harm too, issues that no amount of goodwill could wish away. Equally damaging were the new leaders, many of whom had lived in exile or in prison for much of their adult lives and who tried to impose decrepit, Eastern Bloc political ideas on a world that had long moved on. This disastrous combination has had a terrible impact – it poisoned everything from big business to education to energy utilities to AIDS policy to relations with Zimbabwe.
At the heart of the book lies the ruinous figure of Thabo Mbeki, whose over-reaching ambitions led to catastrophic failure on almost every front. But, as Johnson makes clear, Mbeki may have contributed more than anyone else to bringing South Africa close to ‘failed state’ status, but he had plenty of help.
Hardcover, first Edition 2009, internally clean, dust wrapper good, shows some slight signs of shelf wear, but a very good + copy 701 pages a heavy book

Additional information

Weight 0.97 kg
Dimensions 24 × 16.2 × 4.7 cm

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