Books by Joseph Lelyveld
“Everybody told me that Move Your Shadow was the current book I had to read. So I read it, and it left a lasting impression on me.” Read more...
The best books on Nelson Mandela and South Africa
John Carlin, Journalist
Omaha Blues
by Joseph Lelyveld
Again the family was somewhat dysfunctional. For instance, when Joe was five or six years old, simply because his presence was inconvenient to his parents, he was left for the summer with the maid’s family on a farm of either Jehovah’s Witnesses or Seventh Day Adventists. The thing that really interested me is that he actually went and checked his memory. It’s a markedly different approach from the way most people would write memoir. He wanted to say not just, “This is what I remember,” but, “This is actually true.”
Interviews where books by Joseph Lelyveld were recommended
Favourite Memoirs, recommended by Calvin Trillin
A successful sense of place is the most satisfying part of any book, argues American journalist and humorist Calvin Trillin. He picks out five of his favourite memoirs — and says that part of what he likes about them is that they’re short.
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.
