SMUTS AND MANDELA, the men who made South Africa

 410pp., paperback, Jacana, Johannesburg, 2024

ISBN: 9781431435449

A comparative study of the careers of Jan Christiaan Smuts (Prime Minister, 1919-24 and 1939-48)  and Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (President, 1994-99)

"This pithy, insightful and reflective comparative study of Mandela and Smuts draws comparative attention to questions of leadership and world view such as peace and war, rights, nation-building and South Africa's place in the world. Written by a highly accomplished historian and sociologist, Southall's approach is fair, considered and unconventional. This book deserves to provoke lively debate." Saul Dubow, Smuts Professor of Commonwealth History, University of Cambridge

"A compelling book about these two great South Africans who shaped the trajectory of this country - by writing about the two great leaders in a single book, the author brings into sharp relief the complexity and the twists and turns of South African history, and the respective political strengths and weaknesses of the two leaders." David Boucher, co-editor of Reappraising the Life and Legacy and Jan C Smuts

Roger Southall was Professor of Political Studies, Rhodes University (1990-2001), Executive Director/Distinguished Research Fellow Human Sciences Research Council (2001–2007), and Professor of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand (2007–2013). His books include Whites and Democracy in South Africa (2022), Liberation Movements in Power: Party and State in Southern Africa (2013) and The New Black Middle Class in South Africa (2016). He lives in Cape Town.