Customer Reviews
Playing the Enemy - By: Michael Bromfield, 16 Jun 2010 
.....was the original title & on my list of books that I wanted to read long before Cint Eastwoods film adaptation 'Invictus' came out.
One Mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter but Mandela managed what few on this planet have done - risen to become a living legend beloved by former foes.
Whatever the simplifications & generalistions referred toin the earlier reviews this book does successfully convey the image of the man & the role the 1995 World Cup providedin laying the foundation for a country that if not united was not torn apart by strife as many predicted - & is still not 15 years later.
The book is interesting & often moving
invictus - By: C. Taylor, 16 Jun 2010 
This is not about Rugby,but about the human condition of which Mandela is a master.And the capacity of one man to forgive his oppressors & think only of uniting his country You must have a heart of stone not to be moved by this book.You will realise that Mandela is a man of destiny.
Absolutely awesome - By: Abu Samra, 13 Jun 2010 Beautiful book, fascinating subject matter. I bought the book because I loved the film so much & wanted to know more of the detail behind the story. The film left me with a massive lumpin my throat at times but I was amazed to find that the book did as well.
At times staggers under the weight of its liberal pieties - By: Frederick Helmersley-Bott, 05 May 2010 
This is an interesting book. But it's also a rather simplistic book. It serves up too many lazy stereotypes. It seems that Carlin has yet to meet an Afrikaner who doesn't warrant the prefix "brutish". Nor has he yet met an Afrikaner who doesn't sport an enormous beer belly & wear a safari suit. They all drink brandy & coke & munch on boerewors. The typical Afrikaner childhood, we are told, involves children "whacking each other over the head with chairs".
The treatment of the ANC, on the other hand, is entirely uncritical. Carlin's portrayal of the IFP-ANC turf warsin the early 1990s is especially one-sided. There is no attempt to point out the dark side of the ANC, the vicious internal power struggles or the outright corruption. We don't learn that over a million whites have fled the country since the end of Apartheid. Instead, we are merely served up Saint Nelson who beguiles everyone with his almost mystical powers.
Now, it probably suited Carlin's Hollywood ambitions to make the tale saccharine & simple, with Baddies & Goodies clearly marked out for you, but that doesn't make it any less irritating. This book is well worth reading but do so with a healthy dose of scepticism.
A Good and Important Story - By: Anthony Gardner, 27 Mar 2010 It begins with a good summary of the history & fall of apartheidin South Africa & the election of Nelson Mandela as President - a triumph of his conviction that the new constitution & SA was for all races. It is sometimes known as the 'Mandela Miracle'.
Th Apartheid Museumin Soweto makes a lot of the first SA Rugby world cup & they play continuously the TV clip & commentary of Nelson Mandela walking onto the pitch at the finalin the Sprinbok's shirt. It is legend & reality, the symbolism is obvious.
Like the film, this book tells this true story well, it is not emotional, one sided or sentimental. It is a tribute to Mandela who saw an opportunity & went for it (and he genuinely enjoyed the sport) & to Francois Pienaar who embraced it & the new political situation.
A very good read.
