Books by John Carlin
John Carlin is a journalist and author. His book Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game that Made a Nation, about former South African president Nelson Mandela, is the basis for the 2009 film Invictus.
“This is by a journalist called John Carlin, who was South Africa correspondent for the Independent for a long time, during which Mandela was released from prison and came to power. Carlin got to know Mandela a bit and met him several times. He’s written more than one book about Mandela, but this is a brilliant book because it’s very short and very concise. It seeks to uncover and show you what he was like as a man. It doesn’t kind of give you the full political and historical context of what was going on—Carlin has written about that elsewhere. He really zeroes in on what Mandela was like in the room, what kind of a person he was. One of the things that he shows you very persuasively is that Mandela was an intuitive genius of a psychologist. He really understood people, how to handle them.” Read more...
The best books on Disagreeing Productively
Ian Leslie, Journalist
Playing the Enemy
by John Carlin
Playing the Enemy is a book by journalist John Carlin, who knew Nelson Mandela well and witnessed South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy. It's the book on which the movie Invictus (starring Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman and directed by Clint Eastwood) was based.
Interviews with John Carlin
The best books on Nelson Mandela and South Africa, recommended by John Carlin
Nelson Mandela was a most unusual and unusually astute leader, says journalist and author of Playing the Enemy, John Carlin. He chooses the best books to understand Nelson Mandela, who used forgiveness as a political tool, and South Africa, the country he brought peacefully out of apartheid.
Interviews where books by John Carlin were recommended
The best books on South Africa, recommended by Alec Russell
World News Editor at the FT and Pulitzer Prize nominee discusses the struggles and triumphs of South Africa – the colonial scramble, the end of apartheid, Mbeki, Mandela and rugby, ANC corruption and more
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1
The Enigma of Reason: A New Theory of Human Understanding
by Dan Sperber & Hugo Mercier -
2
Knowing Mandela: A Personal Portrait
by John Carlin -
3
The Five Percent: Finding Solutions to Seemingly Impossible Conflicts
by Peter Coleman -
4
Mere Civility: Disagreement and the Limits of Toleration
by Teresa Bejan -
5
Learning Lessons From Waco: When Parties Bring Their Gods to the Negotiation Table
by Jayne Docherty
The best books on Disagreeing Productively, recommended by Ian Leslie
The best books on Disagreeing Productively, recommended by Ian Leslie
Many of us avoid conflict in our relationships with family and friends or at work, but that’s probably a mistake, says Ian Leslie, author of a number of nonfiction books on human behaviour. Here, he recommends books that offer insight into how to disagree productively, from evolutionary biology to 17th century Rhode Island, from Nelson Mandela to seemingly intractable conflicts.
