Book Recommendation: Playing the Enemy

Thought I'd do a couple of book recommendations this week.  And I know I'm late to the party and many people have already read it, but I had to share my thoughts on it as it is one of the best books I've yet to read on South Africa.  It's also one of the best written non-fictions and one of the most inspiring books I've ever read, period.

"Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation" by John Carlin.

As many people know, it is the book that the movie "Invictus" was based on.  It is the recounting of how Nelson Mandela used the 1995 Rugby World Cup as a vehicle for nation-building.  But that sounds so dry.  It is so much more than that.  It is about Mandela's greatest gifts:  political genius and forgiveness.  It is the story of the apolitical and hostile embracing what was once unknown, reviled.  It is the story of how Mandela averted civil war, how he not only unshackled South Africa's black population, but how he also freed its white population from guilt and fear.

The book gives you a solid history on the last, gasping, violent days of apartheid.  I cannot tell you how raw and powerful it was to be reading about the Upington 26 while driving towards Upington. (I read the whole book coming back from the Kgalagadi.)  That dusty little town -- formerly so innocuous in my mind -- took on all manner of foreboding. 

The book is very well researched (as you would expect from Carlin, a former journalist) and the writing is superb, especially for a non-fiction book -- factual and informative, yet still enthralling, stirring.  And if you're worried about it being about a sport you neither know or care about, don't worry.  I know diddly all about rugby (except that it's really fun to watch) and I wasn't lost at all.  In fact, very little of the book has much to do with the actual game itself.  The book concentrates more on its place in the national identity -- and soul -- here in South Africa. 

I cannot recommend it enough.  Whether you know all about apartheid or rugby -- or not.  It is about a story too good to be true, too fairytale to come to life.  But it did.  Here where I sit, the fruits of Mandela's labors are evident every day, and this book is a compelling tribute to his magic.