Young Mandela: The Revolutionary Years

Young Mandela: The Revolutionary Years is a biographical account of Nelson Mandela (duh). Said book examines the man before he became the mythological figure. It touches on Mandela's political alliances, his relationships, and gives us insight into the man that we know Mandela to be publicly today. 

Reading this, it was obvious that Smith is a journalist, as he uses the "exciting" journalist tone that so many journalists-turned-authors use (Robert Kaplan is also big on this). The book was well-researched, and, when reading, one can tell that Smith had passion for this subject matter. Yet, I did feel that it lacked continuity as it seemed choppy in some parts. While there were sources listed in the back, I feel that footnotes might be more appropriate for this text (given the large amount of information).

I recommend this book as an introduction into Mandela's life, but also believe that there are better texts out there on this subject. Perhaps check out Mandela's own autobiography first.

I received this book as part of the early reviewers program on Librarything.


2/5


Information:

Young Mandela: The Revolutionary Years David James Smith Little, Brown and Company (2010), Edition: 1, Hardcover, 416 pages

Shakespeare's Wife

With Shakespeare's Wife, Germaine Greer has written an exhaustive women’s history text on life in Stratford during the 16th and 17th centuries. Unfortunately for its readers, much information pertaining to the actual life of Shakespeare’s wife is purely speculative given the lack of historical documents that exist relating to Anne Hathaway. 

I would suggest one read this book if they are interested in social history. There is much information contained about medical practices, social norms, and religious politics of Elizabethan and Stuart England. There are also invaluable insights given into the lives of other residents of Stratford who have otherwise been forgotten in history. Greer does an excellent job of writing about this time period, and, most importantly, Greer cites all of her sources (this is a rarity amongst most biographical authors).

As previously stated, there is actually very little about Anne Hathaway in this book. We do learn brief tidbits about her childhood, her relatives, her marriage, and death. Most of Greer’s other information comes from analyses of primary sources not relating to Hathaway (such as tax records and marriage records), secondary sources (in which Greer vehemently defends Hathaway from her critics) and Shakespeare’s works (The Merry Wives of Windsor is one she uses predominantly throughout the text). As a reader, I intensely disliked when Greer attempted to approach the emotional life of Hathaway. It felt that this was is all speculation, and that such a practice is better kept for historical novels.

This book is one that I’m glad that I’ve read, but I don’t think I’ll read again any time soon. 


3/5


Information: Harper Perennial (2009), Paperback, 432 pages