‘Winnie & Nelson:

William Collins

One of the most celebrated political leaders of the 20th century, Nelson Mandela has been written about by many biographers and historians. But in one crucial area, his life remains largely untold: his marriage to Winnie. During his years in prison, Nelson grew ever more in love with an idealised version of his wife. But Winnie, every bit his political equal, found herself increasingly estranged from her jailed husband’s politics. Behind his back, she was trying to orchestrate an armed seizure of power, a path he feared would lead to an endless civil war.

Jonny Steinberg tells the tale of this unique marriage and turns the course of South African history into a page-turning political biography. Winnie & Nelson is a modern epic in which trauma doesn’t just affect the couple at its centre, but an entire nation. Bonds of love and commitment mingle with timeless questions of revolution. Told with power and tender emotional insight, Steinberg reveals how far these forever entwined leaders would go for one another, and also, where they drew the line. For in the end both knew theirs was not simply a marriage, but a contest to decide how apartheid should be fought.

About the author

Jonny Steinberg is the author of several books about everyday life in the wake of South Africa’s transition to democracy. He is a two-time winner of South Africa’s premier nonfiction prize, The Sunday Times Alan Paton Award, and an inaugural winner of the Donald Windham–Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prizes. Until 2020, he was Professor of African Studies at Oxford University. He currently teaches part-time at Yale and at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research in Johannesburg. He lives in Oxford.

Read an extract from Winnie & Nelson: A Portrait of a Marriage.

Read an interview with Jonny Steinberg.