‘Everyone interested in Nelson Mandela’s life and South Africa’s transition to democracy should read this book.’
The State vs. Nelson Mandela
The Trial that Changed South Africa
Description
The only account of this seminal trial, written by Mandela's defence attorney
The only account of this seminal trial, written by Mandela’s defence lawyer and with a new foreword by Denis Goldberg, accused alongside Mandela and sentenced to life imprisonment.
On 11 July 1963, police raided Liliesleaf Farm in Rivonia near Johannesburg, arresting alleged members of the high command of the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). Together with the already imprisoned Nelson Mandela, they were put on trial and charged with conspiring to overthrow the apartheid government by violent revolution. Their expected punishment was death. In this compelling book, their defence attorney, Joel Joffe, gives a blow-by-blow account of the most important trial in South Africa’s history, vividly portraying the characters of those involved, and exposing the astonishing bigotry and rampant discrimination faced by the accused, as well as showing their incredible courage under fire.
Reviews
'Joffe devotes considerable care to his account of the trial and those who conducted it, crafting a dramatic indictment of apartheid justice.'
'The State vs. Nelson Mandela is a remarkable piece of contemporary historical writing that will serve as one of the most reliable sources for understanding what happened at that trial and how we came to live to see democracy triumph in South Africa.'
'A hard-hitting and compulsively readable account of one of the great state trials of the 20th century.'
