From one of South Africa’s foremost nonfiction writers, a deeply researched, shattering new account of Nelson Mandela’s relationship with Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Drawing on never-before-seen material, Steinberg reveals the fractures and stubborn bonds at the heart of a volatile and groundbreaking union, a very modern political marriage that was performed on the world stage.

One of the most celebrated political leaders of a century, Nelson Mandela has been written about by many biographers and historians. But in one crucial area, his life remains largely untold: his marriage to Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. During his years in prison, Nelson grew ever more in love with an idealized version of his wife, courting her in his letters as if they were young lovers frozen in time. But Winnie, every bit his political equal, found herself increasingly estranged from her jailed husband’s politics. Behind his back, she was trying to orchestrate an armed seizure of power, a path he feared would lead to an endless civil war.

Steinberg tells the story of a marriage—its longings, its obsessions, its deceits—turning the course of South African history into a page-turning political biography. It is a modern tale in which trauma doesn’t just affect a couple, but an entire nation. It is a Shakespearean tale in which questions of love and commitment mingle with timeless questions of revolution, such as whether to seek retribution or a negotiated peace. As it turns out, the story of Nelson and Winnie’s marriage embodies the story of the anti-apartheid struggle itself, stripped down to its essential questions.

JONNY STEINBERG is the author of several books about everyday life in the wake of South Africa’s transition to democracy. A two-time winner of South Africa’s premier nonfiction award and an inaugural winner of the Donald Windham-Sandy M. Campbell Literature Prize, Steinberg was professor of African Studies at Oxford University and currently teaches part-time at Yale and at the Wits Institute for Social and Economic Research (WiSER) in Johannesburg.