After decades of cultural and political turmoil, Nelson Mandela's inauguration as president of South Africa in 1994 seemed to usher in an age of peaceful, rational change.
But, as R. W. Johnson recounts in his sweeping history, this was not to be. The profound damage of apartheid and the country's ill-prepared new leaders -- in exile or prison for much of their adult lives -- were a disastrous combination that poisoned everything from big business to education and AIDS policy to international relations.
In South Africa's Brave New World, Johnson shows how Mandela's successors brought South Africa close to "failed state" status and explores the implications for its future. At the heart of the story lies the figure of Thabo Mbeki, whose presidency led to catastrophic failure on almost every front. With a new afterword that assesses the new administration of Jacob Zuma, this controversial book stands as the definitive history of the new South Africa.