The prison letters of Nelson Mandela / Nelson Mandela

Foreword / Zamaswazi Dlamini-Mandela -- Introduction -- A note on the letters -- Nelson Mandela's prison numbers -- Pretoria Local Prison, November 1962-May 1963 -- Robben Island Maximum Security Prison, May 1963-June 1963 -- Robben Island Maximum Security Prison, June 1964-March 1982 -- Pollsmoor Maximum Security Prison, March 1982-August 1988 -- Tygerberg Hospital & Constantiaberg MediClinic, August-December 1988 -- Victor Verster Prison, December 1988-February 1990 -- Supplementary information [Appendices] : Glossary ; Prison timeline ; Map of South Africa, c.1996 -- Letters and collections.

An unforgettable portrait of one of the most inspiring historical figures of the twentieth century, published on the centenary of his birth. Arrested in 1962 as South Africa's apartheid regime intensified its brutal campaign against political opponents, forty-four-year-old lawyer and African National Congress activist Nelson Mandela had no idea that he would spend the next twenty-seven years in jail. During his 10,052 days of incarceration, the future leader of South Africa wrote a multitude of letters to unyielding prison authorities, fellow activists, government officials, and, most memorably, to his courageous wife, Winnie, and his five children. Now, 255 of these letters, many of which have never been published, provide exceptional insight into how Mandela maintained his inner spirits while living in almost complete isolation, and how he engaged with an outside world that became increasingly outraged by his plight. Organized chronologically and divided by the four venues in which he was held as a sentenced prisoner, The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela begins in Pretoria Local Prison, where Mandela was held following his 1962 trial.

English