South Africa: How the Mandela Myth Helped Win the Battle for Democracy in South Africa

[The Conversation Africa] Political history scholar Jonny Steinberg's 2023 book Winnie & Nelson: Portrait of a Marriage is a double biography of South Africa's most famous political figures - Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela Mandela - and their role in the country's struggle for democracy. It's also a book that shatters countless myths about the couple and the liberation struggle that have been formed in popular culture and even academic tellings of history. As South Africa commemorates 30 years of democracy, we asked