Download or read book Prisoners of Jan Smuts written by Karen Horn and published by Jonathan Ball Publishers. This book was released on 2024-04-10 with total page 343 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Equally skilled in a variety of trades other than in the art of love, the Italian prisoners of war (POWs) who were incarcerated in South Africa during the Second World War are a source of great fascination to this day. Who were these men? And what made some of them attempt dramatic escapes, while others wanted to stay behind after the war? The first Italian POWs arrived in the Union of South Africa in early 1941, most of them being held in Zonderwater Camp outside Cullinan or in work camps across the country. The government of Jan Smuts saw them as a source of cheap labour that would contribute to harvesting schemes, road-building projects such as the old Du Toit's Kloof Pass between Paarl and Worcester and even to prickly-pear eradication schemes. Prisoners of Jan Smuts recounts the stories of survival and shenanigans of the Italian POWs in the Union through the eyes of five prisoners who had documented their experiences in memoirs and letters. While many POWs seemed to appreciate the opportunities to gain new skills, others clung to the Fascist ideas they had grown up with and refused to work . Many opted to remain in South Africa once the war had ended, forging quite a legacy. These included sculptor Edoardo Villa, who left an important mark in the local and international art world, and businessman Aurelio Gatti, who built an ice-cream empire whose gelato was to delight generations of South Africans.
Download or read book The Chattering Wagtails of Mikuyu Prison written by Jack Mapanje and published by Heinemann. This book was released on 1993 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Increase student performance, student engagement, and critical analysis skills with We the People. This program is available with GinA, an educational game in which students learn American Government by doing, as well as McGraw-Hill’s LearnSmart, an adaptive questioning tool proven to increase content comprehension and improve student results. Try our Politics in Practice which uses real-life scenarios to develop students’ critical thinking skills through activities and a written argument. Unique to this program is a balanced, well-respected author who makes complex topics easy. Tom Patterson is a recognized voice in media who teaches at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. We the People’s strong authorship and market-leading digital products make this an ideal solution to course goals.
Download or read book Long Walk to Freedom written by Nelson Mandela and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2008-03-11 with total page 598 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand history – and then go out and change it." –President Barack Obama Nelson Mandela was one of the great moral and political leaders of his time: an international hero whose lifelong dedication to the fight against racial oppression in South Africa won him the Nobel Peace Prize and the presidency of his country. After his triumphant release in 1990 from more than a quarter-century of imprisonment, Mandela was at the center of the most compelling and inspiring political drama in the world. As president of the African National Congress and head of South Africa's antiapartheid movement, he was instrumental in moving the nation toward multiracial government and majority rule. He is still revered everywhere as a vital force in the fight for human rights and racial equality. Long Walk to Freedom is his moving and exhilarating autobiography, destined to take its place among the finest memoirs of history's greatest figures. Here for the first time, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela told the extraordinary story of his life -- an epic of struggle, setback, renewed hope, and ultimate triumph. The book that inspired the major motion picture Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.
Download or read book Jan Smuts written by Naphtali Levy and published by London ; New York : Longmans, Green and Company. This book was released on 1917 with total page 422 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Jan Smuts written by Richard Steyn and published by Jonathan Ball Publishers. This book was released on 2015-09-01 with total page 387 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jan Smuts: Unafraid of Greatness is a re-examination of the life and thoughts of Jan Smuts. It is intended to remind a contemporary readership of the remarkable achievements of this impressive soldier-statesman. The author, a former editor of The Star, argues that Smut's role in the creation of modern South Africa should never be forgotten, not least because of his lifetime of devoted service to this country. The book draws a parallel between Smuts and President Thabo Mbeki, both architects of a new South Africa, much lionised abroad yet often distrusted at home. This highly readable account of Smut's eventful life blends fact, anecdote and opinion in an examination of his complex character, his relationships with women, spiritual and intellectual life and role as advisor to world leaders. Politics and international affairs receive the most attention, but Smut's unique contributions in a variety of other fields, including botany, conservation and philosophy, also receive attention. Jan Smuts: Unafraid of Greatness does not shy away from the contradictions of its subject. Smuts was one of the architects of the United Nations and a great champion of human rights, yet he could not come to terms with the need to include the African majority in the politics of his own country.
Download or read book General Jan Smuts and his First World War in Africa 1914 1917 written by David Brock Katz and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2022-05-19 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new assessment of Jan Smuts’s military leadership through examination of his World War I campaigning, demonstrating that he was a gifted general, conversant with the craft of maneuver warfare, and a command style steeped in the experiences of his time as a Boer general. World War I ushered in a renewed scramble for Africa. At its helm, Jan Smuts grabbed the opportunity to realize his ambition of a Greater South Africa. He set his sights upon the vast German colonies of South-West Africa and East Africa – the demise of which would end the Kaiser’s grandiose schemes for Mittelafrika. As part of his strategy to shift South Africa’s borders inexorably northward, Smuts even cast an eye toward Portuguese and Belgian African possessions. Smuts, his abilities as a general much denigrated by both his contemporary and then later modern historians, was no armchair soldier. This cabinet minister and statesman donned a uniform and led his men into battle. He learned his soldiery craft under General Koos De la Rey's tutelage, and another soldier-statesman, General Louis Botha during the South African War 1899–1902. He emerged from that war, immersed in the Boer maneuver doctrine he devastatingly waged in the guerrilla phase of that conflict. His daring and epic invasion of the Cape at the head of his commando remains legendary. The first phase of the German South West African campaign and the Afrikaner Rebellion in 1914 placed his abilities as a sound strategic thinker and a bold operational planner on display. Champing at the bit, he finally had the opportunity to command the Southern Forces in the second phase of the German South West African campaign. Placed in command of the Allied forces in East Africa in 1916, he led a mixed bag of South Africans and Imperial troops against the legendary Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck and his Shutztruppe. Using his penchant for Boer maneuver warfare together with mounted infantry led and manned by Boer Republican veterans, he proceeded to free the vast German territory from Lettow-Vorbeck’s grip. Often leading from the front, his operational concepts were an enigma to the British under his command, remaining so to modern-day historians. Although unable to bring the elusive and wily Lettow-Vorbeck to a final decisive battle, Smuts conquered most of the territory by the end of his tenure in February 1917. General Jan Smuts and His First World War in Africa makes use of multiple archival sources and the official accounts of all the participants to provide a long-overdue reassessment of Smuts’s generalship and his role in furthering the strategic aims of South Africa and the British Empire in Africa during World War I.
Download or read book Irish Political Prisoners 1848 1922 written by Professor Sean Mcconville and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2005-08-19 with total page 833 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the most wide-ranging study ever published of political violence and the punishment of Irish political offenders from 1848 to the founding of the Irish Free State in 1922. Those who chose violence to advance their Irish nationalist beliefs ranged from gentlemen revolutionaries to those who openly embraced terrorism or even full-scale guerilla war. Seán McConville provides a comprehensive survey of Irish revolutionary struggle, matching chapters on punishment of offenders with descriptions and analysis of their campaigns. Government's response to political violence was determined by a number of factors, including not only the nature of the offences but also interest and support from the United States and Australia, as well as current objectives of Irish policy.
Download or read book The British Empire and its Italian Prisoners of War 1940 1947 written by B. Moore and published by Springer. This book was released on 2002-03-13 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Second World War, British and Imperial forces captured more than half a million Italian soldiers, sailors and airmen. Although a symbol of military success, these prisoners created a multitude of problems for the authorities throughout the war. This book looks at how the British addressed these problems and turned liabilities into assets by using the Italians as a labour force, a source of military intelligence and as a political warfare tool before their final repatriation in 1946-47.
Download or read book Prison Letters written by Nelson Mandela and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2019-08-13 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Heartbreaking and inspiring,” Nelson Mandela’s Prison Letters reveals his evolution “into one of the great moral heroes of our time” (New York Times). First published to mark the centenary of Nelson Mandela’s birth, The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela sparked celebrations around the globe for one of the “greatest warriors of all time” (O, The Oprah Magazine). Featuring 94 letters selected from that landmark collection, as well as six new letters that have never been published, this historic paperback provides an essential political history of the late twentieth century and illustrates how Mandela maintained his inner spirit while imprisoned. Whether they’re longing love letters to his wife, Winnie; heartrending notes to his beloved children; or articulations of a human-rights philosophy that resonates today, these letters reveal the heroism of a man who refused to compromise his moral values in the face of extraordinary human punishment, invoking a “story beyond their own words” (New York Times). This new paperback edition—essential for any literature lover, political activist, and student—positions Mandela among the most inspiring historical figures of the twentieth century.
Download or read book Great Books Written in Prison written by J. Ward Regan and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-03-27 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many of the world's most important historical figures were imprisoned for holding unpopular or unorthodox beliefs. They used their time behind bars to write books that shaped the course of history. This collection of new essays offers a wide-ranging examination of influential works written--in whole or in part--while their authors were in prison or exile. Each chapter explores a different text and contains a brief biography and summary of the circumstances surrounding the author's imprisonment, along with a critical examination of the writing and its legacy. Authors covered include Plato, Thomas Paine, Gandhi, Thoreau, Bertrand Russell, Hitler and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Download or read book The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela written by Nelson Mandela and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2018-07-10 with total page 553 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of NPR's Great Reads of 2018 An unforgettable portrait of one of the most inspiring historical figures of the twentieth century, published on the centenary of his birth. Arrested in 1962 as South Africa’s apartheid regime intensified its brutal campaign against political opponents, forty-four-year-old lawyer and African National Congress activist Nelson Mandela had no idea that he would spend the next twenty-seven years in jail. During his 10,052 days of incarceration, the future leader of South Africa wrote a multitude of letters to unyielding prison authorities, fellow activists, government officials, and, most memorably, to his courageous wife, Winnie, and his five children. Now, 255 of these letters, many of which have never been published, provide exceptional insight into how Mandela maintained his inner spirits while living in almost complete isolation, and how he engaged with an outside world that became increasingly outraged by his plight. Organized chronologically and divided by the four venues in which he was held as a sentenced prisoner, The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela begins in Pretoria Local Prison, where Mandela was held following his 1962 trial. In 1964, Mandela was taken to Robben Island Prison, where a stark existence was lightened only by visits and letters from family. After eighteen years, Mandela was transferred to Pollsmoor Prison, a large complex outside of Cape Town with beds and better food, but where he and four of his comrades were confined to a rooftop cell, apart from the rest of the prison population. Finally, Mandela was taken to Victor Verster Prison in 1988, where he was held until his release on February 11, 1990. With accompanying facsimiles of some of his actual letters, this landmark volume reveals how Mandela, a lawyer by training, advocated for prisoners’ human rights. It reveals him to be a loving father, who wrote to his daughter, “I sometimes wish science could invent miracles and make my daughter get her missing birthday cards and have the pleasure of knowing that her Pa loves her,” aware that photos and letters he sent had simply disappeared. More painful still are the letters written in 1969, when Mandela—forbidden from attending the funerals of his mother and his son Thembi—was reduced to consoling family members through correspondence. Yet, what emerges most powerfully is Mandela’s unfaltering optimism: “Honour belongs to those who never forsake the truth even when things seem dark & grim, who try over and & over again, who are never discouraged by insults, humiliation & even defeat.” Whether providing unwavering support to his also-imprisoned wife or outlining a human-rights philosophy that resonates today, The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela reveals the heroism of a man who refused to compromise his moral values in the face of extraordinary punishment. Ultimately, these letters position Mandela as one of the most inspiring figures of the twentieth century. From The Prison Letters of Nelson Mandela “A new world will be won not by those who stand at a distance with their arms folded, but by those who are in the arena, whose garments are torn by storms & whose bodies are maimed in the course of contest.” “I am convinced that floods of personal disaster can never drown a determined revolutionary nor can the cumulus of misery that accompanies tragedy suffocate him.” “My respect for human beings is based, not on the colour of a man’s skin nor authority he may wield, but purely on merit.” “A good pen can also remind us of the happiest moments in our lives, bring noble ideas into our dens, our blood & our souls. It can turn tragedy into hope & victory.”
Download or read book Reflections in Prison written by Mac Maharaj and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2010-11-18 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1976, when he was imprisoned on Robben Island, Nelson Mandela secretly wrote the bulk of his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom. The manuscript was to be smuggled out by fellow prisoner Mac Maharaj, on his release later that year. Maharaj also urged Mandela and other political prisoners to write essays on southern Africa’s political future. These were smuggled out with Mandela’s autobiography, and are now published for the first time, 25 years later, in Reflections in Prison. This collection of essays provides a unique ‘snapshot’ of the thinking of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki, Ahmed Kathrada and other leaders of the anti-apartheid struggle on the eve of the 1976 Soweto Uprising. It gives an insight into their philosophies, strategies and hopes, as they debate diversity and unity, violent and non-violent forms of struggle, and non-racism in the context of different interpretations of African nationalism. Each essay is preceded by a short biography of the author, a description of his life in prison, and a pencil sketch by a leading black South African artist. The collection begins with a foreword by Desmond Tutu and a contextualising introduction by Mac Maharaj. These essays are far more than historical artefacts. They reveal the thinking that contributed to the South African ‘miracle’ and address issues that remain burningly relevant today.
Download or read book 8115 A Prisoner s Home written by Alf Kumalo and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2012-10-02 with total page 124 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In his autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela describes his house at 8115 Vilakazi Street, Soweto, as '... identical to hundreds of others ... it had the same standard tin roof, the same cement floor, a narrow kitchen, and a bucket toilet at the back.' Little did Mandela know when he first moved into the house in 1946 that it would become the stage for some of the most important political events in South Africa's turbulent history and, in recent times, a cultural landmark visited by thousands of tourists each year. Renowned photographer and close family friend Alf Kumalo captured the day-to-day life of the Mandelas - the raids by the security police and intimate family moments, both of joy and sorrow, as well as Mandela's return to his home after his release from prison in 1990, twenty-eight years after he had left it. Using this unassuming house as the setting, 8115: A Prisoner's Home collects some of Kumalo's most historically important and beautiful images of the Mandela family and their home, giving us a unique insight into the life of the family who would have a profound effect on South Africa's political landscape.
Download or read book The Mammoth Book of Prison Breaks written by Paul Simpson and published by C & R Crime. This book was released on 2013-07-04 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: True stories of prison breaks including those of Frank Abagnale, whose story is told in Catch Me If You Can; Henri Charrière who claimed to have escaped from the supposedly inescapable Devil's Island - the true story as opposed to his questionable memoir, Papillon; Bud Day, said to be the only US serviceman ever to have escaped to South Vietnam; the six prisoners who escaped from Death Row in Mecklenburg Correctional Center; and Pascal Payeret, the French armed robber who escaped not once, but twice from French prisons with the help of a helicopter.
Download or read book Island In Chains By Prisoner 885 63 written by Indres Naidoo and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2012-11-01 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The island starts slowly moving back; the reverberations in the boat increase; the engine noise gets louder, and we feel the prison dock being torn from us. We are standing, silent, each at his own porthole, having our last look at what has been our home for ten years. There is a strange optical effect: the Island seems to get bigger as we get further from it. First we see only the little dock, then the rocks and bushes at either side and, finally, the whole expanding coastline, a complete island; a green and picturesque stretch of land in the ocean, the harsh monotony of its internal life totally hidden by its outer physical beauty ... Goodbye, Robben Island, may we never see you again, may all who live on your be liberated, may you go to hell, may you sink into the sea and become part of the bitter memories of the past, our past, of the past of apartheid. In 2001, Island in Chains was the runner-up for the prestigious Alan Paton Non-Fiction Prize.
Download or read book Conversations with Myself written by Nelson Mandela and published by Macmillan + ORM. This book was released on 2010-10-11 with total page 478 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nelson Mandela is widely considered to be one of the most inspiring and iconic figures of our age. Now, after a lifetime of taking pen to paper to record thoughts and events, hardships and victories, he has bestowed his entire extant personal papers, which offer an unprecedented insight into his remarkable life. A singular international publishing event, Conversations with Myself draws on Mandela's personal archive of never-before-seen materials to offer unique access to the private world of an incomparable world leader. Journals kept on the run during the anti-apartheid struggle of the early 1960s; diaries and draft letters written in Robben Island and other South African prisons during his twenty-seven years of incarceration; notebooks from the postapartheid transition; private recorded conversations; speeches and correspondence written during his presidency—a historic collection of documents archived at the Nelson Mandela Foundation is brought together into a sweeping narrative of great immediacy and stunning power. An intimate journey from Mandela's first stirrings of political consciousness to his galvanizing role on the world stage, Conversations with Myself illuminates a heroic life forged on the front lines of the struggle for freedom and justice. While other books have recounted Mandela's life from the vantage of the present, Conversations with Myself allows, for the first time, unhindered insight into the human side of the icon.
