SAVING NELSON MANDELA, the Rivonia Trial and the fate of South Africa

210 pp., illus., hardback, d.w., Oxford, 2012

Kenneth S.Broun recreates the Rivonia Trial using interviews with many of those involved in the case and portions of the trial manuscript, and demonstrates how "outstanding and courageous advocacy, combined with widespread international support", saved Nelson Mandela and his fellow activists from the death penalty.

"For more than twenty-five years, scholar and teacher Kenneth Broun has worked with black lawyers and law students in apartheid-era South Africa. In this magnificent book, he draws on his experience and expertise to bring to life the events and personalities of the 1963-64 Rivonia Trial. A turning point in world history, the trial was intended to punish and to deter, as well as to put an end to Nelson Mandela and his comrades. In fact, Rivonia showed to the world how corrupt and vulnerable the apartheid system really was. Meticulously documented and dramatically narrated, Broun's book makes a unique contribution to our understanding of South Africa and the struggle for human rights." human rights lawyer, Michael E.Tigar, Emeritus Professor, Washington College of Law and Duke Law School

"Kenneth Broun does justice to one of the most celebrated political trials of the 20th century. He brings the full weight of his own long career to bear, as a legal academic and trial lawyer who has had a decades-long engagement with the South African legal system. The result is not only a gripping story but a work of profound scholarship, sensitivity and empathy." Mark Gevisser, author of "Thabo Mbeki, a dream deferred".

Kenneth Broun is the Henry Brandis Professor of Law Emeritus at the University of North Carolina School of Law. Since 1986 he has travelled regularly to South Africa to teach trial advocacy in programs sponsored by the Black Lawyers Association of South Africa.