About the Book (from the publisher):
“Rivonia’s Children” recounts the little-known story of three white, Jewish families and their remarkable struggle alongside Nelson Mandela against apartheid, in the era when South Africa’s white-minority regime descended into a brutal police state. Imprisoned, exiled and in some cases murdered, these activists paid a terrible price for their courage, but their sacrifices helped pave the way for a multi-racial democracy. The new Blue Ear Books edition of Glenn Frankel’s classic account of the cost of freedom is as relevant to today’s struggles for justice and equality as when it was first published a quarter-century ago.
Glenn Frankel worked for many years for “The Washington Post,” serving as bureau chief in London, Southern Africa and Jerusalem, where he won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting. He has taught journalism at Stanford University and the University of Texas at Austin, where he directed the School of Journalism. He is the author of five books, has won a National Jewish Book Award, and was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. He has been a Motion Picture Academy Film Scholar and a research fellow at the Leon Levy Center for Biography at the City University of New York. “Rivonia’s Children,” first published in 1999 and republished in 2024 by Blue Ear Books, was a finalist for the Alan Paton Prize, South Africa’s highest honor for nonfiction.
Andrew Russell was born in Cape Town in 1964, the year Nelson Mandela was sent to Robben Island. He attended Bishops College, completing his schooling in 1982 – the same year Mandela was moved off Robben Island to Pollsmoor Prison. He completed his studies at the University of Cape Town before doing his two years of National Service as was compulsory for all white males at the time. In July 2018 Christo Brand, one of Nelson Mandela’s former prison guards, asked Andrew to become his Business Manager and they set out on an exciting adventure into the unknown to introduce the world to Christo and share his story. Andrew is the editor of the second edition of Christo Brand’s book called “Doing Life with Mandela: My Prisoner, My Friend.” In October 2023 Andrew published his book, “The Leadership We Need: Lessons for Today from Nelson Mandela.” Andrew is a passionate South African, mad keen on sport and the proud dad of two children.
This event was recorded on October 28, 2024.