Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation Free

FREE INVICTUS: NELSON MANDELA AND THE GAME THAT MADE A NATION PDF

Uh-oh, it looks like your Internet Explorer is out of date. For a better shopping experience, please upgrade now. Javascript is not enabled in your browser. Enabling JavaScript in your browser will allow you to experience all the features of our site. Learn how to enable JavaScript on your browser. NOOK Book. His plan was ambitious if not far-fetched: Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation the national rugby team, the Springboks—long an embodiment of white-supremacist rule—to embody and engage a new Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation Africa as they prepared to host the World Cup. The day before, the team was gathered at Silvermine, an old militarybase inside a mountainous nature preserve on the Cape Peninsula,where they had established a temporary training camp. On the easternhalf of the peninsula's narrow waist, Silvermine was one of the mostbeautiful spots in South Africa. Looking north, you saw the totemicmonolith of Table Mountain. Looking south, you saw the rockyextremity where the Indian and Atlantic oceans met. The team had just finished an afternoon training session when theylooked up and saw a big military helicopter throbbing down from thesky. As they gawked up at the flying machine descendingtoward the field, he announced that this was Mandela on his way to seethem. Mandela made some light remarks, raising some laughs, and thenDu Plessis called for quiet so that the president could address the team. Somewhat to their surprise, Mandela started by taking up the samelofty themes he generally did when addressing white people. His audiencewas all white that day, as Chester Williams was away nursing aninjury. He reminded them that the ANC had promised that the newgovernment would keep the commander of the army, the nationalcommissioner of police, the Reserve Bank governor, and the ministerof finance. He then pointed out that, a year after the elections, his governmenthad remained true to its word. As Afrikaners, they had nothingto fear from the ANC. The Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation wins this match will go right through to the end," he predicted,before returning to a solemn tone. From the point of view ofmerit, you are equal to anything in the world. But we are playing athome and you have got an edge. The players cheered and applauded, Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation Mandela took turns tochat with them one by one. The players were drawn to him immediately. Hennie le Roux, the chunky center three quarter, decided out of theblue to offer Mandela a token of his gratitude for taking the trouble to come and visit them. When the president got to him, he handed him hisgreen Springbok cap and said, "Please take it, Mr. President, it is foryou. Mandela took it, smiled, and said, "Thank you very much. I shallwear it! The Silvermine encounter redefined the Springboks' feelings fortheir president and their country. Describing the scene as Mandelaboarded his helicopter and flew off, Du Plessis was almost lost forwords. And he did them some good as a rugby team too. Pienaar had beenworried about the tension among his teammates on the day before playbegan. He would usually try to find a way to break it, with a song maybeor a film, but this time Mandela had done his job for him. A year earlier,Mandela had put Pienaar at his ease in the presidential office. Now hehad done the same for the team as a whole. Hisinteraction with the team was jovial, always smiling, always crackinglittle jokes. And he always has time for Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation. He'd stop and chat,and put the players at ease. Mandela may have lowered the Springboks' stress, but he couldn'tbanish it entirely. Few people actually died on a rugby field, but nosport—in terms of pain endured and brutality of collision—was closerto war. And rugby demanded far more stamina than did American football. Each rugby match was played in two forty-minute halves with only aten-minute break between them and no timeouts except for injury. Butphysical fear weighed less heavily on the players than the burden ofnational expectation. In less than twenty-four hours they would faceAustralia's Wallabies, one of the five teams with a serious chance ofwinning the World Cup, along with France, England, New Zealand, andSouth Africa. The Presidential Protection Unit provided as good a barometer ofthe national mood as any. They were one group of South Africans whowent to bed on the night before the game against Australia feeling astense as the Springboks themselves. But for different reasons. We went up and down examiningevery high-rise around the stadium. The PPU was united in its sense of mission but split down themiddle between blacks and whites, between former members ofUmkhonto we Sizwe, like Moonsamy, and former members of thesecurity police. The split extended to rugby. Being in Mandela's presence day in, dayout for a year had smoothed Moonsamy's sharper edges. We looked at them, smiled,and shook our heads. At the event, the PPU's preparedness paid off. The South Africa —Australia game went without a hitch. Mandela was helicoptered fromthe presidential residence in Cape Town to a tall building near the stadium. From the building he traveled in a silver armored BMW to thestadium, with Moonsamy, Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation was number one bodyguard on the day,sitting in the passenger seat before him. Amid all the excitement, Mandelahad not forgotten Hennie le Roux's cap. He wore it at the tournament'sopening ceremony, where the sixteen teams taking part in thetournament went on parade there at Newlands Stadium alongside 1,dancers or 1, Mandela himself joining and performing a lively jig ,before the inaugural game itself. And he wore it when he went out ontothe pitch to shake the hands of the two teams, to a warm cheer Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation overwhelmingly white 50,strong crowd, among whom newSouth African flags abounded. The game itself was a triumph for the Springboks. All the pressurehad worked in their favor, in the end, and they beat Australia, whomnone had beaten for fourteen months, more comfortably than thescore—27 points to 18—suggested. Joel Stransky was the man of thematch, scoring 22 of the Springbok points, 17 of them from kicks, onea try over the line. As the game neared the end a hastily painted banneremerged from the crowd that read, "Forget the Rhino. Save the Wallaby! That night the Springbok players celebrated as rugby players do,drinking until four in the morning, being feted—carried high aloft—everywhere they went. A day later, their heads still rather the worse for wear, they foundthemselves on a ferry bound for Robben Island. In players overcoming the pain barrier,in a superior desire to win, in luck going your way because you makeyour own luck, in all kinds of tiny details that together or separatelymark the difference between winning and losing. It all came perfectlytogether. Robben Island was still being used as a prison and all the prisonersthere were either Black or Coloured. Part of the day's event involvedmeeting them, but first the players took turns viewing the cell whereMandela had spent eighteen of his twenty-seven years in captivity. Theplayers entered the cell one or two at a time; it couldn't hold any morethan that. Having just met Mandela, they knew that he was a tall manlike most of them, if not as broad. It required no great mental leap topicture the challenges, physical and psychological, of being confined ina box so small for so long. Pienaar, who had done a bit of reading onMandela's past, also knew that it was in this cell, or at any rate in thisprison, that much of the energy and planning behind the boycott ofthe Springbok international tours had come. Steve Tshwete, now the minister ofsport, had told Du Plessis that, in these cells, they listened on the radioto the Springboks' games against the British Lions in The guardsyelled at the prisoners to stop their cheering, but they cheered on. After Mandela's cell the Springbok players went outside to the yardwhere Mandela had once been obliged to break stones. I spoke to themabout our sense that we were representing the whole country now,them included, and then they sang us a song. James Small—I'll neverforget this—stood in a corner, tears streaming out. James lived veryclose to the sword and I think he must have felt, 'I could have beenhere. But," Pienaar added, recalling the bruising fights he would get into when he was younger, the time he thought he had killed a man,"… but mine too, eh? Small remembered the episode. There I was, hearing the applause for me, and at the sametime thinking about Mandela's cell and how he spent twenty-sevenyears in prison and came out with love and friendship. Home 1 Books 2. Read an excerpt of this book! Add to Wishlist. Sign in to Purchase Instantly. Explore Now. Buy As Gift. Overview Beginning in a jail cell and ending in a rugby tournament—the true story of how the most inspiring charm offensive in history brought South Africa together. Watch a Video. Show More. Related Searches. The inspiring profile brought to life in the major motion picture starring Tom Hanks, plus View Product. Double Down: Game Change Game of Mirrors Inspector Montalbano Series Each novel in this Summaries and Excerpts: Invictus : Nelson Mandela and the game that made a nation / John Carlin.

Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Preview — Playing the Enemy by John Carlin. A thrilling, inspiring account of one of the greatest charm offensives in history--Nelson Mandela's decade-long campaign to unite his country, beginning in his jail cell and ending with a rugby tournament. InNelson Mandela, then in prison for twenty-three years, set about winning over the fiercest proponents of apartheid, from his jailers to the head of South Africa' A thrilling, inspiring account of one of the greatest charm offensives in history--Nelson Mandela's decade-long campaign to unite his country, beginning in his jail cell and ending with a rugby tournament. InNelson Mandela, then in prison for twenty-three years, set about winning over the fiercest proponents of apartheid, from his jailers to the head of South Africa's military. First he earned his freedom and then he won the presidency in the nation's first free election in But he knew that South Africa was still dangerously divided by almost fifty years of apartheid. If he couldn't unite his country in a visceral, emotional way--and fast--it would collapse into chaos. He would need Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation the charisma and strategic acumen he had honed during half a century of activism, and he'd need a cause all South Africans could share. Mandela picked one of the more farfetched causes imaginable--the national rugby team, the Springboks, who would host the sport's World Cup in Against the giants of the sport, the Springboks' chances of victory were remote. But their chances of capturing the hearts of most South Africans seemed remoter still, as they had long been the embodiment of white supremacist rule. During apartheid, the all-white Springboks and their fans had belted out racist fight songs, and blacks would come to Springbok matches to cheer for whatever team was playing against them. Yet Mandela believed that the Springboks could embody--and engage--the new South Africa. And the Springboks themselves embraced the scheme. Soon South African TV would carry images of the team singing "Nkosi Sikelele Afrika," the longtime anthem of black resistance to apartheid. As their surprising string of victories lengthened, their home-field advantage grew exponentially. South Africans of every color and political stripe found themselves falling for the team. When the Springboks took to the field for the championship match against New Zealand's heavily favored squad, Mandela sat in his presidential box wearing a Springbok jersey while sixty-two-thousand fans, mostly white, chanted "Nelson! The Springboks won a nail-biter that day, defying the oddsmakers and capping Mandela's miraculous ten-year-long effort to bring forty-three million South Africans together in an enduring bond. John Carlin, a former South Africa bureau chief for the London Independentoffers a singular portrait of the greatest statesman of our time in action, blending the volatile cocktail of race, sport, and politics to intoxicating effect. He draws on extensive interviews with Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and dozens of other South Africans caught up in Mandela's momentous campaign, and the Springboks' unlikely triumph. As he makes stirringly clear, their championship transcended the mere thrill of victory to erase ancient hatreds and make a nation Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation. Get A Copy. Hardcoverpages. More Details Original Title. Other Editions Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Playing the Enemyplease sign up. How does Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation differ from movie? Charlene Michelle Well, the movie skips a lot of details that are super important like what happend while Mandela was in jail, the ANC being Communist, and so on, there … more Well, the movie skips a lot of details that are super important like what Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation while Mandela was in jail, the ANC being Communist, and so on, there is so much information, I recomend to read it if you want to get more knowledge from the past Africa or for an asignment of history. See 1 question about Playing the Enemy…. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Dec 09, Petra-X rated it it was amazing Shelves: star-bookstravel-adventure-countriesreviewed. Nelson Mandela is my hero. Rugby is my game I'm from the South Wales valleys, 'nuff said. Simply the best book I've read all year, it was absolutely awesome. Mandela's methods for disarming and charming everyone were inspirational - this is the only inspirational book I've read I can't get into that genre at all. I fit it into all those groups, so did Mandela. He would have disarmed them and made them think again, he had a way of bringing out the most decent parts of even despicable people. I don't have his charisma, but following the lessons he developed transforming himself from an advocate of violence to one of reconcilliation, I may become a better person. View 2 comments. I'm not going to belabor the point here, as I ususally do. We often act, despite everyone's acknowledgement to the contrary, as if our generation invented racism, homosexuality, godlessness, greed, gluttony, and, sometimes hate. If we don't buy in to that common portrayal of who caued history's woes we sometimes still seem to see these things as "ours to fix" and take ownership where it's difficult to establish who is responsible for what. Now we sit in ivory towers under white buildings, that look as if someone has Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation an overturned coffee cup on top of a rectangular whit box, and draw battle lines on paper Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation of in the sand. Money becomes blood. Law becomes the sword, and we call ourselves civilized while, in practice, little changes save what one side or the other's needs for a new battle. Try as we might, we look back at our history, in our past, and scour present with fine toothed combs, struggling to find heroes with perfect faces that can be mounted on Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation cartons and billboards to show off dazzling smiles. Failing to do Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation, we make up or own, and post their images, choosing to believe as truths that really came from the darkest imagination in which they had been created. In ignorance, we ignored the true heroes who toil in obscurity to overcome massive mountains of trumped up thought with ages of experience at believing imagined rights and wrongs. Faces that failed the test of photogenics and lighting, or voices that seemed drol and ordinary instead of heroic. While most of us in the US were absorbed in our own misery and joy, either make believe or real, in South Africa from to a battle raged. Sometimes the battle involved blood and bone, blade and bullet. Sometimes these battles involved paper and law, authority and anarchy. Sometimes it involved thoughts and emotions, both real and self-cultivated, and, sometimes, politics. This was nothing as simple as a war of guns and bullets, though there was plenty of that to go around, this was a war for hearts and minds. A war over that fragile, illusive thing we choose as our Identity as a person and a nation and the relationship between us. While most of the United states continued about their lives in blissful ignorance, tipping the metaphorical hat at news stories and other odd things in press and on television, the most important battle of our time had been started, fought, and won, steming the tide of bloodhsed, rather than causing more to bleed. It was perhaps the most important battle of all time about human rights and human dignity and the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness with no barriers or glass ceilings decided by the colour of your skin and no privlidges ripped away by an angry fledgling government of wounded victimized warriors. This book reads like a page newspaper article. John Carlin is, after all, a journalist. It starts with a long history lesson, that is as distasteful as it is interesting and wicked as it is wise. In the middle the book turns to a tale of manipulation, cunning and charm. By the end, it's a tale of triumph. A bloodless coup where there were no casualties and the enemy joined the victors in celebration, dancing in the streests Our acknowlegement of what had passed held in check our need to have villains and faces to rail at and call shameful names, and make believe heroes to occupy our guilt. This book reads like the weather in Maine. The first part is the cruel winter that seems to last well more than it's fair quarter. A brief spring that is far to short, a blistering summer and a beautiful autum with gold and red leaves dancing in the wind. As they say in Maine, "If you don't stay for the winters, then you do not deserve the spring and summer. Surely, those things can happen, but here, the galvanizing agent that started a healthy conversation about how Blacks and Whites in South Africa could live in peace without fear of eachother started with a "A Hoolagin's sport played by gentleman. For Whites, as one Rugger in the book put it. The people were behind us. The whole world was behind us and we felt it. We had regained our dignity after years of being everyone's enemy. Sometimes they are thoughttful and caring and understanding of simple pleasures. That your fears of us are not waranted, this is how we prove it. It's a great book. Everyone should read it. View all 8 comments. Libro Invictus: Nelson Mandela And The Game That Made A Nation PDF ePub - LibrosPub

The availability of items requested from other libraries may depend on the policies of the other libraries. A thrilling, inspiring account of one of the greatest charm offensives in historyaNelson Mandelaas decade-long campaign to unite his country, beginning in his jail cell and ending with a rugby tournament InNelson Mandela, then in prison for twenty-three years, set about winning over the fiercest proponents of apartheid, from his jailers to the head of South Africaas military. First he earned his freedom and then he won the presidency in the nationas first free election in But he knew that South Africa was still dangerously divided by almost fifty years of apartheid. If he couldnat unite his country in a visceral, emotional wayaand fastait would collapse into chaos. He would need all the charisma and strategic acumen he had honed during Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation a century of activism, and head need a cause all South Africans could share. Mandela picked one of the more farfetched causes imaginableathe national rugby team, the Springboks, who would host the sportas World Cup in Against the giants of the sport, the Springboksa chances of victory were remote. But their chances of capturing the hearts of most South Africans seemed remoter still, as they had long been the embodiment of white supremacist rule. During apartheid, the all-white Springboks and their fans had belted out racist fight songs, and blacks would come to Springbok matches to cheer for whatever team was playing against them. Yet Mandela believed that the Springboks could embodyaand engageathe new South Africa. And the Springboks themselves embraced the scheme. Soon South African TV would carry images of the team singing aNkosi Sikelele Afrika, a the longtime anthem of black resistance to apartheid. As theirsurprising string of victories lengthened, their home-field advantage grew exponentially. South Africans of every color and political stripe found themselves falling for the team. When the Springboks took to the field for the championship match against New Zealandas heavily favored squad, Mandela sat in his presidential box wearing a Springbok jersey while sixty-two-thousand fans, mostly white, chanted aNelson Nelson a Millions more gathered around Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation TV sets, whether in dusty black townships or leafy white suburbs, to urge their team toward victory. The Springboks won a nail-biter that day, defying the oddsmakers and capping Mandelaas miraculous ten-year-long effort to bring forty-three million South Africans together in an enduring bond. John Carlin, a former South Africa bureau chief for the London Independent, offers a singular portrait of the greatest statesman of our time in action, blending the volatile cocktail of race, sport, and politics to intoxicating effect. He draws on extensive interviews with Mandela, Desmond Tutu, and dozens of other South Africans caught up in Mandelaas momentous campaign, and the Springboksa unlikely triumph. As he makes stirringly clear, their championship transcended the mere thrill of victory to erase ancient hatreds and make a nation whole. Please check our website at www. Place a Hold You must be logged in first. Pickup at. The information below is included in your interlibrary loan Invictus: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation. To change this data, submit a Change of Address request, or contact your local library for assistance. Library Card. Full Name. Phone Number. Saved in:. Summary A thrilling, inspiring account of one of the greatest charm offensives in historyaNelson Mandelaas decade-long campaign to unite his country, beginning in his jail cell and ending with a rugby tournament InNelson Mandela, then in prison for twenty-three years, set about winning over the fiercest proponents of apartheid, from his jailers to the head of South Africaas military. Table of Contents Introduction p. New York : Penguin Press, Add Tag No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!