Bring Me My Machine Gun: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa, from Mandela to Zuma

By Alec Russell

Book Overview

Award-winning journalist Alec Russell was in South Africa to witness the fall of apartheid and the remarkable reconciliation of Nelson Mandela's rule; and returned in 2007-2008 to see Mandela's successor, Thabo Mbeki, fritter away the country's reputation. South Africa is now perched on a precipice, as it prepares to elect Jacob Zuma as president -- signaling a potential slide back to the bad old days of post-colonial African leadership, and disaster for a country that was once the beacon of the continent.

Drawing on his long relationships with all the key senior figures including Mandela, Mbeki, Desmond Tutu, and Zuma, and a host of South Africans he has known over the years -- including former activists turned billionaires and reactionary Boers -- Alec Russell's Bring Me My Machine Gun is a beautifully told and expertly researched account of South Africa's great tragedy: the tragedy of hope unfulfilled.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1586487388
• ISBN13: 9781586487386
• Release Date: April 2009
• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.3"