Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made A Nation »

John Carlin is senior international writer for El País, the world's leading Spanish-language newspaper, and was formerly the U.S. bureau chief for the Independent. He's written for numerous other publications, including The New York Times, Wired, Spin, Conde Nast Traveler, and the Observer (UK).

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 togetherAfter being ...

The New York Times - Bill Keller

This wonderful book describes Mandela's methodical, improbable and brilliant campaign to reconcile resentful blacks and fearful whites around a sporting event, a game of rugby…the premise that a single rugby game, even a championship game, could heal three centuries of racial division, dispelling accumulated terrors and hatreds in a magic Mandela moment, is romantic overstatement. South Africa is still a generation or two from racial reconciliation. But Carlin summons many witnesses, from ardent liberation firebrands to white racist bitter-enders, who testify that the 1995 championship match was a profoundly formative moment in the young country's move away from the threat of civil war. By the time Carlin is finished, you'll be inclined to grant him his poetic license.

Introduction     1
Breakfast in Houghton     7
The Minister of Justice     19
Separate Amenities     37
Bagging the CROC     49
Different Planets     61
Ayatollah Mandela     75
The Tiger King     93
The Mask     105
The Bitter-Enders     121
Romancing the General     133
"Address Their Hearts"     145
The Captain and the President     159
Springbok Serenade     171
Silvermine     183
Doubting Thomases     191
The Number Six Jersey     201
"Nelson! Nelson!"     213
Blood in the Throat     227
Love Thine Enemy     241
Epilogue     255
Where are They Now?     259
Acknowledgments     263
A Note on Sources     265
Index     267