Overview

A NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE 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 Mandela’s relationship with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela that “does justice both to the couple’s political heroism and to the betrayals and the secrets that hounded their union” (The New Yorker). Drawing on never-before-seen material, Steinberg—one of South Africa’s foremost nonfiction writers—reveals 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 Madikizela-Mandela. 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 husband’s 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 marriage—its longings, its obsessions, its deceits—making South African history a page-turning political biography. Winnie and Nelson is a modern epic in which trauma doesn’t 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 peace. Steinberg reveals, with power and tender emotional insight, how far these forever-entwined 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.

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Reviews

For so long the Mandelas were seen as they were lauded - the freedom fighters, who birthed a nation. Yet, behind the frontlines and the headlines, always there is a shadow narrative, subtler and more complex, a story about revolution and marriage, power and revenge. In this remarkable dual political biography, Jonny Steinberg has at last told it. Winnie and Nelson is a powerful, page-turning political fable unlike any I've read. -Aminatta Forna, author of Happiness and The Window Seat Based on far-ranging research as well as on a trove of recently uncovered materials -- as deeply sympathetic to Winnie, caught up in the whirlwind of insurrectionary violence, as to Nelson, trapped in his prison cell and losing touch day by day with the evolving situation on the ground -- Steinberg's massive essay in political biography is unlikely to be superseded in a long time. -JM Coetzee, Nobel Laureate 2003

For so long the Mandelas were seen as they were lauded - the freedom fighters, who birthed a nation. Yet, behind the frontlines and the headlines, always there is a shadow narrative, subtler and more complex, a story about revolution and marriage, power and revenge. In this remarkable dual political biography, Jonny Steinberg has at last told it. Winnie and Nelson is a powerful, page-turning political fable unlike any I've read. -Aminatta Forna, author of Happiness and The Window Seat

In this eloquent biography, Steinberg . . . captures the mythic quality of these two leaders, their great love story and tragic estrangement, and the hubris and human frailty beneath the personas. . . . He presents a nuanced, well-contextualized look at their relationship within its time. . . . [Winnie and Nelson is] a magnificent portrait of two people joined in the throes of making South African history. -Kirkus Reviews (starred review) Remarkable . . . In heartbreaking detail, Jonny Steinberg adds up the catastrophic toll on these two lives and the lives of people around them. Yet he never takes his eye off the larger picture, and the damage done to the Mandelas comes to stand for the damage done to millions; their history is the history of modern South Africa. Even more impressively, he manages to illuminate two different political traditions through the personalities of Winnie and Nelson, and to give a fresh understanding of the crossroads at which my country now stands. Gripping and profoundly moving, this is Jonny Steinberg's finest book. I can't wait to read it again. -Damon Galgut, Booker Prize-winning author of The Promise, in Literary Hub For so long the Mandelas were seen as they were lauded - the freedom fighters who birthed a nation. Yet, behind the frontlines and the headlines, always there is a shadow narrative, subtler and more complex, a story about revolution and marriage, power and revenge. In this remarkable dual political biography, Jonny Steinberg has at last told it. Winnie and Nelson is a powerful, page-turning political fable unlike any I've read. -Aminatta Forna, author of Happiness and The Window Seat Based on far-ranging research as well as on a trove of recently uncovered materials -- as deeply sympathetic to Winnie, caught up in the whirlwind of insurrectionary violence, as to Nelson, trapped in his prison cell and losing touch day by day with the evolving situation on the ground -- Steinberg's massive essay in political biography is unlikely to be superseded in a long time. -J.M. Coetzee, Nobel Laureate 2003 It takes a special talent to write about Winnie Madikizela and Nelson Mandela without collapsing under the weight-part myth, part hagiography, part obfuscation-that these two towering figures bring to bear on the historical record. Jonny Steinberg is that special talent. Only Steinberg could have written a book in which Winnie and Nelson can appear both larger-than-life and all-too-human. What a book! What an achievement! -Jacob Dlamini, author of The Terrorist Album

“Remarkable . . . In heartbreaking detail, Jonny Steinberg adds up the catastrophic toll on these two lives and the lives of people around them. Yet he never takes his eye off the larger picture, and the damage done to the Mandelas comes to stand for the damage done to millions; their history is the history of modern South Africa. Even more impressively, he manages to illuminate two different political traditions through the personalities of Winnie and Nelson, and to give a fresh understanding of the crossroads at which my country now stands. Gripping and profoundly moving, this is Jonny Steinberg’s finest book. I can’t wait to read it again.”—Damon Galgut, Booker Prize-winning author of The Promise, in Literary Hub “Steinberg vividly recreates the political and private lives of antiapartheid activists Nelson and Winnie Mandela in this exceptional dual biography. . . . Readers will be mesmerized by the thrumming tension and profound emotional complexity of this intimate portrait of two global icons. It’s a knockout.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “Elegant and masterful . . . Steinberg has created a landmark dual biography of two unforgettable civil rights heroes.”—Booklist (starred review) “An engrossing joint biography . . . Not only does this book reveal intimate details of a marriage under terrible pressure, but it also provides an insightful history of the fight against apartheid, including the roles of many other key figures. . . . A superb addition to the history of South Africa and the struggle against apartheid.”—Library Journal (starred review) “The most nuanced of storytellers, Steinberg has always had an extraordinary ability to get inside his protagonists’ heads, and does so here while scrupulously detailing the brutalizing pressures to which [Winnie and Nelson] were relentlessly subjected, experiences that left them warped and hardened.”—Michela Wrong, The Times (UK) “[An] excellent new biography of the couple . . . Steinberg suspects that the couple’s myths will only endure – but his thorough interrogation of their story should help readers reconcile themselves with the messier truth.”—Helen Brown, The Telegraph “Beautiful . . . [Steinberg] gently but firmly removes the masks [Winnie and Nelson] each carefully constructed. . . . Winnie and Nelson is more than a joint biography, as good as it is at that; it’s a deft and operatic interweaving of two outsized characters.”—Richard Stengel, The Observer “An empathetic portrait of one of the most controversial power couples in history . . . Of course, we never know what really happens behind closed doors. What Steinberg does extremely well in this book is to pry those doors ajar using archive, interviews and never-seen-before transcripts of conversations between Winnie and Nelson during prison visits.”—Kirsty Lang, The Sunday Times “A new and excellent double biography of Nelson and Winnie. Steinberg is sensitive and imaginative and has a mature and insightful appreciation of the many painful emotional strains within the marriage, which was always under enormous political pressure. . . . He is a talented writer and there is much that is new here. He has done a great deal of painstaking research, not only in the archives but on the ground too, seeking out and interviewing many minor actors.”—R. W. Johnson, Literary Review “[A] major biography . . . [Winnie and Nelson] reveals some startling truths behind the fractured and volatile marriage of anti-apartheid activists Winnie and Nelson Mandela.”—Martin Chilton, The Independent “Based on far-ranging research as well as on a trove of recently uncovered materials -- as deeply sympathetic to Winnie, caught up in the whirlwind of insurrectionary violence, as to Nelson, trapped in his prison cell and losing touch day by day with the evolving situation on the ground -- Steinberg’s massive essay in political biography is unlikely to be superseded in a long time.”—J.M. Coetzee, Nobel Laureate 2003 “For so long the Mandelas were seen as they were lauded – the freedom fighters who birthed a nation. Yet, behind the frontlines and the headlines, always there is a shadow narrative, subtler and more complex, a story about revolution and marriage, power and revenge. In this remarkable dual political biography, Jonny Steinberg has at last told it. Winnie and Nelson is a powerful, page-turning political fable unlike any I’ve read.”—Aminatta Forna, author of Happiness and The Window Seat “It takes a special talent to write about Winnie Madikizela and Nelson Mandela without collapsing under the weight—part myth, part hagiography, part obfuscation—that these two towering figures bring to bear on the historical record. Jonny Steinberg is that special talent. Only Steinberg could have written a book in which Winnie and Nelson can appear both larger-than-life and all-too-human. What a book! What an achievement!”—Jacob Dlamini, author of The Terrorist Album “In this eloquent biography, Steinberg . . . captures the mythic quality of these two leaders, their great love story and tragic estrangement, and the hubris and human frailty beneath the personas. . . . He presents a nuanced, well-contextualized look at their relationship within its time. . . . [Winnie and Nelson is] a magnificent portrait of two people joined in the throes of making South African history.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Remarkable . . . In heartbreaking detail, Jonny Steinberg adds up the catastrophic toll on these two lives and the lives of people around them. Yet he never takes his eye off the larger picture, and the damage done to the Mandelas comes to stand for the damage done to millions; their history is the history of modern South Africa. Even more impressively, he manages to illuminate two different political traditions through the personalities of Winnie and Nelson, and to give a fresh understanding of the crossroads at which my country now stands. Gripping and profoundly moving, this is Jonny Steinberg's finest book. I can't wait to read it again. -Damon Galgut, Booker Prize-winning author of The Promise, in Literary Hub For so long the Mandelas were seen as they were lauded - the freedom fighters who birthed a nation. Yet, behind the frontlines and the headlines, always there is a shadow narrative, subtler and more complex, a story about revolution and marriage, power and revenge. In this remarkable dual political biography, Jonny Steinberg has at last told it. Winnie and Nelson is a powerful, page-turning political fable unlike any I've read. -Aminatta Forna, author of Happiness and The Window Seat Based on far-ranging research as well as on a trove of recently uncovered materials -- as deeply sympathetic to Winnie, caught up in the whirlwind of insurrectionary violence, as to Nelson, trapped in his prison cell and losing touch day by day with the evolving situation on the ground -- Steinberg's massive essay in political biography is unlikely to be superseded in a long time. -J.M. Coetzee, Nobel Laureate 2003 It takes a special talent to write about Winnie Madikizela and Nelson Mandela without collapsing under the weight-part myth, part hagiography, part obfuscation-that these two towering figures bring to bear on the historical record. Jonny Steinberg is that special talent. Only Steinberg could have written a book in which Winnie and Nelson can appear both larger-than-life and all-too-human. What a book! What an achievement! -Jacob Dlamini, author of The Terrorist Album In this eloquent biography, Steinberg . . . captures the mythic quality of these two leaders, their great love story and tragic estrangement, and the hubris and human frailty beneath the personas. . . . He presents a nuanced, well-contextualized look at their relationship within its time. . . . [Winnie and Nelson is] a magnificent portrait of two people joined in the throes of making South African history. -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Steinberg vividly recreates the political and private lives of antiapartheid activists Nelson and Winnie Mandela in this exceptional dual biography. . . . Readers will be mesmerized by the thrumming tension and profound emotional complexity of this intimate portrait of two global icons. It's a knockout. -Publishers Weekly (starred review) Elegant and masterful . . . Steinberg has created a landmark dual biography of two unforgettable civil rights heroes. -Booklist (starred review) Remarkable . . . In heartbreaking detail, Jonny Steinberg adds up the catastrophic toll on these two lives and the lives of people around them. Yet he never takes his eye off the larger picture, and the damage done to the Mandelas comes to stand for the damage done to millions; their history is the history of modern South Africa. Even more impressively, he manages to illuminate two different political traditions through the personalities of Winnie and Nelson, and to give a fresh understanding of the crossroads at which my country now stands. Gripping and profoundly moving, this is Jonny Steinberg's finest book. I can't wait to read it again. -Damon Galgut, Booker Prize-winning author of The Promise, in Literary Hub For so long the Mandelas were seen as they were lauded - the freedom fighters who birthed a nation. Yet, behind the frontlines and the headlines, always there is a shadow narrative, subtler and more complex, a story about revolution and marriage, power and revenge. In this remarkable dual political biography, Jonny Steinberg has at last told it. Winnie and Nelson is a powerful, page-turning political fable unlike any I've read. -Aminatta Forna, author of Happiness and The Window Seat Based on far-ranging research as well as on a trove of recently uncovered materials -- as deeply sympathetic to Winnie, caught up in the whirlwind of insurrectionary violence, as to Nelson, trapped in his prison cell and losing touch day by day with the evolving situation on the ground -- Steinberg's massive essay in political biography is unlikely to be superseded in a long time. -J.M. Coetzee, Nobel Laureate 2003 It takes a special talent to write about Winnie Madikizela and Nelson Mandela without collapsing under the weight-part myth, part hagiography, part obfuscation-that these two towering figures bring to bear on the historical record. Jonny Steinberg is that special talent. Only Steinberg could have written a book in which Winnie and Nelson can appear both larger-than-life and all-too-human. What a book! What an achievement! -Jacob Dlamini, author of The Terrorist Album In this eloquent biography, Steinberg . . . captures the mythic quality of these two leaders, their great love story and tragic estrangement, and the hubris and human frailty beneath the personas. . . . He presents a nuanced, well-contextualized look at their relationship within its time. . . . [Winnie and Nelson is] a magnificent portrait of two people joined in the throes of making South African history. -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Author Information

JONNY STEINBERG is the author of several books about everyday life in the wake of South Africa’s transition to democracy. He is a two-time winner of South Africa’s premier nonfiction prize, the Sunday Times Alan Paton Award, and an inaugural winner of the Donald Windham–Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prizes. Until 2020, he was professor of African studies at Oxford University. He currently teaches part-time at Yale and at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research in Johannesburg.

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