First published in the United States of America by The Penguin Press, 2008.

New York times bestseller.

Includes bibliographical references (p. [265]) and index.

Breakfast in Houghton -- The Minister of Justice -- Separate amenities -- Bagging the croc -- Different planets -- Ayatollah Mandela -- The tiger king -- The mask -- The bitter-enders -- Romancing the general -- "Address their hearts" -- The captain and the president -- Springbok Serenade -- Silvermine -- Doubting Thomases -- The number six jersey -- "Nelson! Nelson!" -- Blood in the throat -- Love thine enemy -- Where are they now?

In 1985, Nelson Mandela, then in prison for 23 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 1994. But he knew that South Africa was still dangerously divided. If he couldn't unite his country in a visceral, emotional way--and fast--it would collapse into chaos. He would need all 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 1995. Author Carlin, former South Africa bureau chief for the London Independent, offers a portrait of the greatest statesman of our time in action.--From publisher description.