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A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD WINNER THE SUNDAY TIMES LITERARY AWARD WINNER AN LA TIMES BOOK PRIZE FINALIST A WASHINGTON POST AND NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR A deeply researched shattering new account of Nelson Mandelas relationship with Winnie MadikizelaMandela that does justice both to the couples political heroism and to the betrayals and the secrets that hounded their union The New Yorker

Drawing on neverbeforeseen material Steinbergone of South Africas foremost nonfiction writersreveals the fractures and stubborn bonds at the heart of a volatile and groundbreaking union a very modern political marriage that played out on the world stage

Powerful intimate The Washington Post

One of the most celebrated political leaders of a century Nelson Mandela has been written about by many biographers and historians But in one crucial area his life remains largely untold his marriage to Winnie MadikizelaMandela During his years in prison Nelson grew ever more in love with an idealized version of his wife courting her in his letters as if they were young lovers frozen in time But Winnie every bit his political equal found herself increasingly estranged from her jailed husbands politics Behind his back she was trying to orchestrate an armed seizure of power a path he feared would lead to an endless civil war

Jonny Steinberg tells the tale of this unique marriageits longings its obsessions its deceitsmaking South African history a pageturning political biography Winnie and Nelson is a modern epic in which trauma doesnt affect just the couple at its center but an entire nation It is also a Shakespearean drama in which bonds of love and commitment mingle with timeless questions of revolution such as whether to seek retribution or a negotiated peaceSteinberg reveals with power and tender emotional insight how far these foreverentwined leaders would go for each other and where they drew the line For in the end both knew theirs was not simply a marriage but a contest to decide how apartheid should be fought