{"title":"Books by Jonny Steinberg","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9780008353810","title":"Winnie \u0026 Nelson","description":"*Shortlisted for the 2024 Wolfson History Prize*‘Gripping and profoundly moving’ DAMON GALGUT‘Deft and operatic’ OBSERVERFrom one of South Africa’s foremost nonfiction writers, a deeply researched, shattering new account of Nelson Mandela’s relationship with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Drawing on never-before-seen material, Steinberg 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.One of the most celebrated political leaders of the twentieth 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. During his years in prison, Nelson grew ever more in love with an idealised 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 – turning the course of South African history into a page-turning political biography. Winnie \u0026amp; Nelson is a modern epic in which trauma doesn’t just affect the couple at its centre, 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. Told with power and tender emotional insight, Steinberg reveals how far these forever entwined leaders would go for one another, and also, 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.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43605728788658,"sku":"9780008353810","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780008353810_ec23a02a-78e4-4b2f-a848-864ba75d879e.jpg?v=1785659003"},{"product_id":"9780099563778","title":"A Man of Good Hope","description":"\u003cp\u003eWhen Asad was eight years old, his mother was shot in front of him. With his father in hiding, he was swept alone into the great wartime migration that has scattered the Somali people throughout the world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis extraordinary book tells Asad’s story. Serially betrayed by the people who promised to care for him, Asad lived his childhood at a sceptical remove from the adult world, living in a bewildering number of places, from the cosmopolitan streets of inner-city Nairobi to towns deep in the Ethiopian desert. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy the time he reached the cusp of adulthood, Asad had made good as a street hustler, brokering relationships between hardnosed Ethiopian businessmen and bewildered Somali refugees. He also courted the famously beautiful Foosiya, and married her, to the astonishment of his peers. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBuoyed by success in work and in love, Asad put $1,200 in his pocket and made his way down the length of the African continent to Johannesburg, whose streets he believed to be lined with gold. So began an adventure in a country richer and more violent than he could possibly have imagined. \u003ci\u003eA Man of Good Hope\u003c\/i\u003e is the story of a person shorn of the things we have come to believe make us human – personal possessions, parents, siblings. And yet Asad’s is an intensely human life, one suffused with dreams and desires and a need to leave something of permanence on this earth.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56223567511925,"sku":"9780099563778","price":16.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780099563778_f1f7282a-b47d-4c4b-b62d-c8842fda87a8.jpg?v=1786011026"},{"product_id":"9780008644840","title":"Rhodes","description":"From the much-acclaimed author Jonny Steinberg, this is a landmark biography of Cecil Rhodes, a British-born diamond magnate, politician, and fervent imperialist whose vision of a British-dominated Africa left deep scars on the continent.Arriving in the Cape Colony as a teenager, he made a fortune in the Kimberley diamond fields and co-founded De Beers, which monopolized the diamond trade. As Prime Minister of the Cape Colony, Rhodes expanded British territory through coercion and conquest, laying the foundations for land dispossession and racial segregation. He championed white supremacy, explicitly arguing that the \"Anglo-Saxon race\" was destined to rule.Rhodes never married, but formed close relationships with younger men, including Neville Pickering and Frank Johnson. While homosexuality was criminalized in the British Empire, letters and accounts suggest he was likely gay or bisexual. These relationships were largely unacknowledged in public, reflecting both the repression of the time and Rhodes's own secretive nature.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":57682771083637,"sku":"9780008644857","price":18.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"Hardback","offer_id":56367685435765,"sku":"9780008644840","price":25.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}]}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-jonny-steinberg.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}