Beyond The Miracle: Inside the New South Africa - Softcover

Mandela's triumphant welcome as President of South Africa was one of the greatest defining moments of the 20th century. This book analyses brilliantly what has happened since in one of the world's few successful bloodless revolutions. South Africa has undergone a revolution in 15 years which has been largely unnoticed. It has been transformed from an apartheid state cut off from the rest of the world into an open multi-racial democracy. It has been a peaceful transformation, almost without parallel in history anywhere in the world. Compared to Russia's change after communism it has been a triumph. But of course there have been problems: the AIDS pandemic that threatens all Africa's future, and in education, expectations have far exceeded the difficult reality. Crime is a serious problem and the economy, now prey for the first time to globalisation and the whims of international investors is faltering. But it is one of the most vibrant and exciting places in the world, and a microcosm of the rest of the world: this is the multi-cultural society that Europe is becoming through immigration and this is a country where the impoverished poor meet the super-rich every day. This is an exceptional book by the greatest living commentator on South Africa.

Allister Sparks is one of the most distinguished journalists and commentators in South Africa. He ranks with Donald Woods as one of the most courageous anti-apartheid campaigners and played a major part in the reform of the media after Mandela came to power. He founded a journalism training institute in South Africa and has been a visiting professor in Europe and the United States. Beyond the Miracle is his third book.