(Author: Reuben Musiker, Vol. 66, #3, Chanukah 2011)
The world of the printed book continues to grow exponentially even in a digital age, which is itself peaking. A printed book continues to be born every thirty seconds, while well over a million titles are published annually. Electronic e-books have overtaken hard-covered printed books, yet neither format shows any sign of diminishing in number. South Africa is no exception: books continue to be published at a phenomenal rate and literary festivals are flourishing in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Franschhoek and elsewhere.
Books by and about South Africa’s struggle icons, and in particular Nelson Mandela, have mushroomed. With regard to Mandela, the field has been spearheaded by Mandela’s own Long Walk to Freedom and variants such as the Illustrated Long Walk to Freedom. The most recent book by Mandela himself is the authorised book of his quotations. In the feverish literary output surrounding Mandela, a work which is fully in the same spirit as Long Walk to Freedom is Nelson Mandela: Conversations with Myself published in 2010. This book succeeds most admirably in giving readers access to the private man behind the public figure from letters written in the darkest hours of Mandela’s twenty seven years of imprisonment to the draft of an unfinished sequel to Long Walk to Freedom as well as his written journals while on the run during the antiapartheid struggles of the early 1960s. In the pages of this unique biographical and historical volume, Mandela is seen to be neither an icon nor a saint. Here is an intimate journey, brilliantly crafted by the distinguished history scholar, Professor Tim Couzens, covering Mandela’s life from the initial stirrings of his political conscience to his galvanising role on the world stage confirming that true greatness is indeed inborn.
Books about Mandela have proliferated since the advent of South Africa’s democracy in 1994. The definitive authorised biography is by Anthony Sampson. Also well researched is Martin Meredith’s biography of Mandela. David Jones Smith’s The Young Madiba covers Mandela’s life before his imprisonment in 1964. A stirring photographic monograph is Nelson Mandela: a Life in Photographs by the renowned New York Times photographer, David Elliot Cohen. An inspiring well illustrated book about Mandela is Mandela: a Force for Freedom, written by a gifted science educator, Christina Scott, who tragically lost her life in a car related accident in October 2011. Anna Trapido’s Hunger for Freedom, the story of food in the life of Nelson Mandela, deals with a more specialised aspect of Mandela’s life. Mandela: The Authorized Portrait by Mike Nicol, published in 2006, includes numerous excellent contributions by those who were associated with him, such as Helen Suzman.
In the year 2006, there appeared a major work of broad parameters: The World that Made Nelson Mandela: A Heritage Trail – 70 Sites of Significance. This book was crafted by the eminent South African historian, Luli Callinicos. The distinguished South African Nobel Prize Laureate, Nadine Gordimer, described the publication as a stunningly fascinating book. It is a documentary blend of social, geographic and historical importance. Using a thousand images from past and present, it takes the reader through the real South Africa of rural areas, poor locations and affluent city areas linked in the anti-apartheid struggle.
Jewish Memories of Mandela, even within its narrower focus, is likewise richly deserving of the highest praise. Here credit is due principally to David Saks, himself a professional history scholar who has served the South African Jewish Board of Deputies for many years, initially as Senior Researcher and subsequently as Associate Director. Concurrently, for the past twelve years, he has served as Executive Editor of the Board’s journal, Jewish Affairs, which has been published continuously since 1941, making it the oldest and certainly the most important journal of Jewish studies in the African diaspora. Jewish Memories of Mandela is arguably Saks’ magnum opus, a remarkable achievement in the field of South African Jewish historical studies.
For the reviewer, the real highlight and unique aspect of the book, is the painstaking and skilful assemblage of over a hundred profiles interwoven into the historical narrative of the book. These profiles include personalities from every walk of life; Rabbis, including Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris and Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein; Jewish communal leaders; political activists such as Ruth First, Joe Slovo, Arthur Goldreich and Harold Wolpe; legal luminaries such as Isie Maisels, Sydney Kentridge, Richard Goldstone, Arthur Chaskalson and Albie Sachs; business leaders including Mendel Kaplan, Eric Samson and Bertie Lubner; Parliamentarians such as Helen Suzman and Tony Leon; medical specialists like Jack Kussel and Michael Plit; journalists like Benjamin Pogrund and sports personalities like Ali Bacher and Joel Stransky.
In many cases, these personalities have related their interactions with Mandela in their own words, providing a unique insight into Mandela’s ability to connect with all, young and old.
Jewish Memories of Mandela is not the first publication to deal with Mandela’s Jewish connections. It was preceded by Hilly Golombick’s Madiba, published in 2008 in association with the SA Jewish Board of Deputies as a Jewish celebration of Mandela’s ninetieth birthday, and as a brief tribute to him by the South African Jewish community. Jewish Memories of Mandela is by far the more comprehensive and formidable volume, a lasting tribute to the bond between Madiba and South African Jewry.
The photographs in the book complement the text in providing, in many cases, unique historical significance to the events of Mandela’s life and to the accounts of those associated with him throughout his career. Many of these photographs have never been published before and credit should be given to the research team who identified them and provided captions for publication. The absence in some instances of specific sources and acknowledgements of reproduction permission is regrettable, as is the absence of page numbering in the middle section of the book.
The reviewer has certain reservations about the physical format of Jewish Memories of Mandela. It is a somewhat massive volume, which places severe pressure on the book’s binding with a suggestion of cover warping. This is a drawback in an age when readers are faced with limited living space and are increasingly turning to ebooks as a solution. The book’s weightiness is partly due to the inclusion in the final section of glossy portrait photographs on a thicker paper than that used in the rest of the text. Many of these photographs have been greatly enlarged, not always with a successful outcome, as blurring and distortion have resulted. It would have been better to have confined enlargements to landscapes, group photographs and street views. In the middle section of the book, there is a series of unnumbered pages containing photographs of political unrest riots from the 1976 Soweto Uprising onwards. The reviewer feels that these, though historically important in themselves, did not need to be included in such quantity as they are of lesser relevance for the specific focus of the book.
The omission of a formal title page, as distinct from the preceding half-title page, is most unfortunate in a book of such importance. A publisher’s logo, in this case of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, would have been an enhancement. The great majority of published books do bear this feature.
Despite these blemishes, Jewish Memories of Mandela is a book which will surely be treasured world-wide and will take its rightful place in the annals of South African Jewish history. It will enjoy pride of place in its accurate portrayal of the significant contribution of the Jewish community to the democratization of South Africa, and serve as a role model for other parts of the world.
Bibliography of books Cited in this review
Callinicos, Luli. World That Made Mandela: A Heritage Trail. Johannesburg: STE Publishers, 2006.
Cohen, David Elliot. Mandela: A Life in Photographs. New York: Sterling Publishing Co., 2009.
Golombick, Hilly (ed). Madiba: A Tribute from South African Jewry. Johannesburg: The Author, 2008.
Mandela, Nelson. Long Walk to Freedom. London: Little Brown, 1994. Mandela, Nelson. Illustrated Long Walk to Freedom. London: Little Brown, 1996.
Mandela, Nelson. Conversations with Myself. London: Macmillan, 2010.
Mandela, Nelson. Mandela by Himself: The Authorized Book of Quotations. Johannesburg: Pan Macmillan, 2010.
Meredith, Martin. Mandela: A Biography. Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball, 1997, Reprinted 2010.
Nicol Mike. Mandela: The Authorised Portrait. Auckland, New Zealand: PQ Blackwell, 2006; Johannesburg: Wild Dog Press, 2006. Sampson, Anthony. Mandela: The Authorised Biography. London: Harper Collins, 2000. Scott, Christina. Nelson Mandela: A Force for Freedom. London: Andre Deutsch, 2010.
Smith, David Jones. Young Mandela. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 2010
Trapido, Anna. Hunger for Freedom: Food in the Life of Nelson Mandela. Johannesburg: Jacana Media, 2005.
Jewish Memories of Mandela, text by David Saks. Johannesburg: South African Jewish Board of Deputies in association with Umoja Foundation, 2011, 262pp.
Reuben Musiker is Professor Emeritus of Librarianship and Bibliography, University of the Witwatersrand. He has published widely on issues of Jewish and general interest, is Library Consultant, SA Jewish Board of Deputies, and has served for over thirty years on the editorial board of Jewish Affairs.
