Playing the Enemy by John Carlin

Playing the Enemy

Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation

John Carlin

Penguin Publishing Group · Print & ebook · July 28, 2009

Read the book that inspired the Academy Award and Golden Globe winning 2009 film INVICTUS featuring Morgan Freeman and Matt Daymon, directed by Clint Eastwood.

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Who it’s for
A compact, scene-driven history with enough sweep for insight and enough tension to keep turning pages.
Genres
South Africa History, Rugby, Political Lives
Published
Penguin Publishing Group, July 28, 2009

About this book

Read the book that inspired the Academy Award and Golden Globe winning 2009 film INVICTUS featuring Morgan Freeman and Matt Daymon, directed by Clint Eastwood. 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.

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After being released from prison and winning South Africa's first free election, Nelson Mandela presided over a country still deeply divided by fifty years of apartheid. His plan was ambitious if not far-fetched: use the national rugby team, the Springboks-long an embodiment of white-supremacist rule-to embody and engage a new South Africa as they prepared to host the 1995 World Cup. The string of wins that followed not only defied the odds, but capped Mandela's miraculous effort to bring South Africans together again in a hard-won, enduring bond.

History in Motion

A compact, scene-driven history with enough sweep for insight and enough tension to keep turning pages.

Come here for

  • A history told with narrative momentum
  • Mandela, sport, and national symbolism

Expect

  • Civil rights and statecraft in close view
  • A read that suits both discussion and performance

Where it sits

Political Lives59%
Rugby51%
South Africa History50%

Percentages are BookFrontier’s reading of the book.

Publisher categories

  • South Africa History
  • Race & Discrimination
  • Rugby
Authors
John Carlin
Publisher
Penguin Publishing Group
Published
July 28, 2009
Format
Print & ebook
Reading lane
South Africa History