The Spiritual Mandela
Faith and Religion in the Life of Nelson Mandela
by Dennis Cruywagen
This title was previously available on NetGalley and is now archived.
Send NetGalley books directly to your Kindle or Kindle app
1
To read on a Kindle or Kindle app, please add kindle@netgalley.com as an approved email address to receive files in your Amazon account. Click here for step-by-step instructions.
2
Also find your Kindle email address within your Amazon account, and enter it here.
Pub Date Jun 19 2018 | Archive Date Jun 18 2018
Charlesbridge | Imagine
Talking about this book? Use #SpiritualMandela #NetGalley. More hashtag tips!
Description
♦ "Insightful. . . a nuanced understanding of how faith influenced the renowned civil rights activist."
— Publishers Weekly, starred review
". . .illuminating and an essential addition to studies of Mandela's life and work."
—Booklist
Nelson Mandela revealed nothing about his personal religious beliefs in his writings or in his public pronouncements. But those who were close to him know that he held Christian views. At his request, the final components of his funeral followed the Methodist service.
Acclaimed journalist Dennis Cruywagen traces the spiritual component of Mandela's life, from his youth in a traditional Thembu village to his education at Wesleyan and Methodist mission schools to his time as an activist to his period on Robben Island and the years thereafter. Based on interviews with some of Mandela's close colleagues, such as Ahmed Kathrada, as well as priests and other religious figures with whom he interacted, this book unearths an unknown dimension of one of recent history's most respected men.
Marketing Plan
National Advertising campaign including in Christian press
Outreach to reading groups
Promotion in conjunction with Nelson Mandela's birthday on July 18
Available Editions
EDITION | Other Format |
ISBN | 9781623545307 |
PRICE | $24.99 (USD) |
PAGES | 240 |
Featured Reviews
I really liked hearing about this aspect of Mandela. This started out with more a a research paper vibe but turned into a more fluent read as I went on.
Nelson Mandela life is written in this book with every detail about his childhood, time in prison, the presidency and personal life. Such a strong and inspirational leader. The book is very instructive and full of important quotes. I've enjoyed it from the first page. And at the end, there are notes, websites, interviews, conversations where you can look up for more information. Very organized. Dennys Cruywagen has done an excellent biography. "Can you imagine where South Africa would be today had Mandela been consumed by a lust for revenge, to want to pay back for all the humiliations and all the agony that he and his people had suffered at the hands of their white oppressors?". I definitely recommend this book.
I'd like to thank Net Galley for the ARC.
Having been fascinated with Nelson Mandela since childhood, it was a special treat to read this as an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in return for any honest review.
It was well written, focusing almost entirely on the foundations and experiences that shaped Mandela's belief system. It was well written, informative, and well researched, though a bit dry, even for a non-fiction work.
The Spiritual Mandela by Dennis Cruywagen is an exceptionally well-done biography of Nelson Mandela which pays special attention to the role faith and religion (the Methodist Church in particular) played in his life. Without it, he says, he never would have survived his imprisonment, and credits it for making him the man he was.
This book is highly informative, and very readable. It is impossible to read this book and not come away with high admiration for the man Nelson Mandela was and all that he accomplished.
I highly recommend this book.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Imagine for allowing me to read a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Really interesting read, and well written biography on Nelson Mandela. I went in not knowing much about him, and came out better informed about Mandela the person. Deeply grateful for the information provided and I would recommend this to anyone looking to better understand the life and person of this famous figure.
This was an interesting read and a well written book. I didn't know a lot about Mandela before going into this book and i do think that that was a good way to read this. It provided a good amount of information and background and groundwork to dive deeper into a clearly very interesting and worth while person to know more about.
At first i was a bit unsure about this book since the author himself states that Mandela never actually stated his religion or believes, but this book felt very well researched and so i think its overall done very well.
If you are interesting to learn more about Mandela, this is a great book to pick up!
Readers who liked this book also liked:
Jodi Picoult; Jennifer Finney Boylan
General Fiction (Adult), Literary Fiction, Women's Fiction
Frank Maria Reifenberg (Author), Thilo Krapp (Illustrator), Rachel Reynolds (Translator)
Children's Fiction, Middle Grade