Nelson Mandela

by Andy Koopmans

Born a country boy in rural South Africa, Nelson Mandela became an anti-apartheid activist and was imprisoned in the 1960s for fighting the racist policies of the apartheid government. In prison, he became a powerful symbol of the fight against racial injustice and emerged 27 years later to become the first black South African president.

112 pages, Hardcover

Published April 19, 2004

About the author

Andy is the author of sixteen non-fiction titles, including histories of the Leopold & Loeb trial, the Harlem Renaissance, and the Blues, and biographies of figures including Bruce Lee, Charles Manson, Pol Pot, and Nelson Mandela. He is also the editor of a volume of essays, Examining Pop Culture: Crime and Criminals.

Andy is also a fiction writer, essayist, and poet with publications in journals and anthologies including Black Scat Noir, Black Scat Review, Sunshine Noir II, Fiction International, Central Park, The Southern Anthology, Collage & Bricolage, The Journal of Experimental Fiction, Conceptions Southwest, Heaven Bone, and others. He is the author of two fiction collections: Narrative Cult Visions (1997 MFA thesis) and The Veronicas of Our Own Perversions (2024).