The State Vs. Nelson Mandela: The Trial That Changed South Africa

In 1963, Nelson Mandela, along with nine other leaders and friends of the African National Congress, were tried on multiple charges that included sabotage and conspiracy. When his boss was swept up in the charges, attorney Joffe put his plans to escape South Africa on hold to manage the defense. In his play-by-play, Joffe recounts tremendous obstacles, among them a parade of witnesses slapped with 90-day prison stints in order to drive them to the prosecution's side, and a judge who harbored no doubts about the legitimacy of white supremacy. Another difficulty: most of his clients were indeed guilty as charged and weren't going to deny it. Joffe, who wrote this book in 1964, draws heavily on the original transcripts and his own experience. Unfortunately, he has little to say about Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Arthur Goldreich as people, and assumes readers already know the trial's implications for South Africa; he doesn't offer any big-picture conclusions beyond the verdict and sentencing (one acquitted, all others spared the death penalty). Anyone hoping for an inside look at the personalities of the ANC leadership will come away disappointed, but Joffe devotes considerable care to his account of the trial and those who conducted it, crafting a dramatic indictment of apartheid justice.