A prisoner in the garden
Subtitle: opening Nelson Mandela's prison archive
Edition: New edition.
Publisher: Penguin
Published: 2013
Place of publication: Johannesburg, South Africa; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 208
ISBN-13: 9780143538394
Subjects: Biography; Presidents; Political prisoners; Race relations; Politics and government; African National Congress
Description: In 1977 the South African prison authorities allowed a number of journalists to visit the notorious Robben Island. The intention was to persuade the outside world that the conditions there were not as bad as widely believed. On their tour of the island the journalists encountered a tall, thin man dressed neatly in prison clothes and leaning on a spade. The expression on his face was one of intense hostility, and his bearing was more that of prince than prisoner.The man was Nelson Mandela, in his 13th year of incarceration on Robben Island. Today the photograph, captioned 'A Prisoner Working in the Garden' by the prison authorities, forms the centrepiece of the Mandela Prison Archive, which when viewed as a whole constitutes a living record of Mandela's 27 years in prison. It includes rare photographs and video footage, Mandela's handwritten letters to family, friends and the authorities, his personal diaries and notes, official records, medical records and legal documents. Together they form an extraordinary picture of prison life but, even more remarkably, of a man who, together with his close comrades, never gave up the fight for freedom and the vision of a liberated country.
Notes: Previous edition published in 2005.
Table of contents: title: Foreword / by Nelson Mandela; title: Introduction / by John Samuel; title: An infinite record : secrets uncovered and stories retold; title: The prison archive : more than a simple story of an unjust incarceration; title: An unlocking of story : the archival threads connecting two old men; title: A closer reading : exhibiting the prison archive; title: Walking in freedom : the end of one story is the beginning of another; title: Sources and permissions.