Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation » (Reprint)

John Carlin is senior international writer for El País, the world's leading Spanish language newspaper, and was previously the U.S. bureau chief for The Independent on Sunday. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The New Republic, Wired, Spin, and Conde Nast Traveler.

Beginning in a jail cell and ending in a rugby tournament- the true story of how the most inspiring charm offensive in history brought South Africa together

After being released from prison and winning South Africa's first free election, Nelson Mandela presided over a country still deeply divided by fifty years of apartheid. His plan was ambitious if not far-fetched: use the national rugby team, the Springboks-long an embodiment of white-supremacist rule-to embody and engage a new South Africa as they prepared to host the 1995 World Cup. The string of wins that followed not only defied the odds, but capped Mandela's miraculous effort to bring South Africans together again in a hard-won, enduring bond.

Introduction 1

Chapter I Breakfast In Houghton 7

Chapter II The Minister of Justice 19

Chapter III Separate Amenities 37

Chapter IV Bagging The Croc 49

Chapter V Different Planets 61

Chapter VI Ayatollah Mandela 75

Chapter VII The Tiger King 93

Chapter VIII The Mask 105

Chapter IX The Bitter-Enders 121

Chapter X Romancing The General 133

Chapter XI "Address Their Hearts" 145

Chapter XII The Captain And The President 159

Chapter XIII Springbok Serenade 171

Chapter XIV Silvermine 183

Chapter XV Doubting Thomases 191

Chapter XVI The Number Six Jersey 201

Chapter XVII "Nelson! Nelson!" 213

Chapter XVIII Blood In The Throat 227

Chapter XIX Love Thine Enemy 241

Epilogue 255

Where Are They Now? 259

Acknowledgments 263

A Note on Sources 265

Index 267