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  • The American Scholar

    Robben Island Days

    Jun 04, 2018 4 minutes
    Review by Douglas Foster

    THE PRISON LETTERS OF NELSON MANDELA

    EDITED BY SAHM VENTER

    Liveright, 640 pp., $35

    “DEAR SIR, My colleagues have requested me to write,” the prisoner began, as if he and the minister of justice had decided to settle into a nice collegial chat over tea. This letter from Nelson Mandela, dated April 22, 1969, must rank as the most politely worded explanation of revolutionary intent in human history. The colleagues he mentioned were comrades in the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party dedicated to the overthrow of the white minority government the minister represented. The purpose of this letter? “[To] ask you to release us from prison and, pending your decision on the matter, to accord us the treatment

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