{"title":"Tony Leon","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"on-the-contrary-book-tony-leon-9781868422593","title":"On the contrary","description":"As difficult to pigeon-hole as the man himself, part memoir, part biography, part political polemic, On the Contrary is a brilliant and timely contribution to South Africa's 'history in the making'.  Controversial, principled, plain-spoken -- Tony Leon, leader of the opposition for thirteen years, is all that and more. Destined from early life as the son of a High Court Judge to make a major impact as an ironclad liberal, he has nonetheless interrogated his idealism in strategic terms and left the political arena strewn with defeated adversaries and old-style conservatives content to let human rights slip for the sake of an easy life. Without fear or favour he also confronted the new elite wherever or whenever they exceeded the bounds of parliamentary, political or private probity, as they often did. This book records in his finely-focused prose an adventure in ideas that involves vivid, real people -- friends, colleagues and remorseless opponents alike. Many are famous names. Readers will be startled at Leon's freshness of approach and grasp of the intricate realities and compromises that go into the making of a politician and into the leadership of a political party. Fresh light is cast on a half-century of figures who have shaped modern South Africa: from the dour Nationalists to the abrasive personalities of the liberation fold. Themes, events and personalities emerge from five decades of memory, participation and intellectual struggle. They are unique in our records, told from very near the centre of power. He lifts the lid on many of the most important chapters of the recent epoch: the constitutional negotiations, the birth and near death of the Democratic Alliance, his struggle with Thabo Mbeki over AIDS, Zimbabwe and race. In a no-holds-barred assessment he provides an insider's account of the dramas and events which have helped shape and define modern South Africa. He also charts the future course of South Africa after the rise of Jacob Zuma and the struggle for power inside the ANC.  The book offers an almost forensic examination of how corruption, crime and unemployment corroded the high ideals of the Constitution and of Parliament itself. He is also not afraid of allowing glimpses of his rich, private life -- the brilliance of this book rests in its careful balance of the public and the private and how they nurture each other.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49514743464209,"sku":"GOR003960098","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50051067216145,"sku":"GOR013846307","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1868422593.jpg?v=1751217947"},{"product_id":"future-tense-book-tony-leon-9781776190744","title":"Future Tense","description":"In 2008, Tony Leons award-winning biography On the Contrary concluded with a chapter entitled Future Imperfect. Now, in the riveting new Future Tense, the topic and title has changed to capture and analyse the squandered and corrupted years since.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49517817037073,"sku":"GOR012859435","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50389888434449,"sku":"CIN1776190742G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50541616693521,"sku":"GOR013991300","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51050840850705,"sku":"NIN9781776190744","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52127707300113,"sku":"NLS9781776190744","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1776190742.jpg?v=1751312273"},{"product_id":"future-tense-book-tony-leon-9781776191420","title":"Future Tense","description":"'Tony Leon is not only an experienced politician but also a talented writer, and this book is the highly readable result of that combination.' - Lord William Hague, former British Foreign Secretary and Conservative Party leader   'Anyone who wants to understand South Africa today - a country so beautiful, yet so broken - simply has to read this book.' - Niall Ferguson, author of The Ascent of Money  In his riveting new book, Future Tense, Tony Leon captures and analyses recent South African history, with a focus on the squandered and corrupted years of the past decade. With unique access and penetrating insight, Leon presents a portrait of today's South Africa and prospects for its future, based on his political involvement over thirty years with the key power players: Cyril Ramaphosa, Jacob Zuma, Thabo Mbeki, Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk. His close-up and personal view of these presidents and their history-making, and many encounters in the wider world, adds vivid colour of a country and planet in upheaval.  Written during the first coronavirus lockdown, Future Tense examines the surge of the disease and the response, both of which have crashed the economy and its future prospects.  As the founding leader of the Democratic Alliance, Leon also provides an insider view for the first time of the power struggles within that party, which saw the exit of its first black leader in 2019.  There is every reason to fear for the future of South Africa but, as Leon argues, 'the hope for a better country remains an improbable, but not an impossible, dream'.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49539341025553,"sku":"GOR011878796","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49899981537553,"sku":"NGR9781776191420","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50401327808785,"sku":"CIN1776191420G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1776191420.jpg?v=1751059220"},{"product_id":"opposite-mandela-book-tony-leon-9781868426010","title":"Opposite Mandela","description":"Tony Leon has written a book of unique insight into an unexplored aspect of the presidency and leadership of Nelson Mandela. Opposite Mandela relates the untold stories of how South Africa's first democratic president related to his political opponents. Leon served as leader of the Democratic Party during Mandela's presidency. Although they clashed, sometimes fiercely, on great issues of the day, Leon enjoyed an unusually warm relationship with Mandela and had direct access to the president's office. In this first-hand account, he relates some of the more consequential moments of those momentous times in South Africa's history-in-the-making through the lens of the opposition. Although this is a personal account, it also explores some of the major themes, from reconciliation to corruption, which not only marked that period but also laid the basis for the current challenges which confront South Africa today, nearly two decades after Mandela assumed the countrys highest office, the very moment when Leon's political leadership began. Insightful, and simultaneously serious and amusing, it lifts the veil on many unknown or unexplained benchmarks from that era: the personal animosity between Mandela and FW De Klerk, the decision of the Democratic Party to reject Mandela's offer of a seat in his cabinet and whether the extraordinary outreach of Mandela to the minorities was the shrewd calculation of a latter-day Machiavelli or the genuine impulses of a secular political saint. This highly readable and first-hand account considers in a balanced manner both the golden moments and the blind spots of one of the most consequential presidencies and leaders of the modern democratic age.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50205553033489,"sku":"GOR009147381","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51249322295569,"sku":"NIN9781868426010","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52516515938577,"sku":"NLS9781868426010","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1868426017.jpg?v=1751028198"},{"product_id":"accidental-ambassador-book-tony-leon-9781770102415","title":"The accidental ambassador","description":"The accidental ambassador follows on from the successful Tony Leon autobiography, On the Contrary: Leading the opposition in a democratic South Africa (2008) to showcase Leon's wit and sense of humour as he takes the reader on the journey of his retirement from active political life and into public service as the South African ambassador to Argentina. From Leon's 'Job interview' with Jacob Zuma in Tuynhuis in 2008, to his immersion in governmental bureaucracy and a three-week crash course on 'How to be an ambassador' to the strange stance and contradictions of South African foreign policy and life in Argentina, he shares with the reader his entertaining experiences of cultural immersion, comical anecdotes and political reflection. It provides great insight into the behind-the-scenes life of an ambassador.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50470133104913,"sku":"GOR006651458","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1770102418.jpg?v=1750801145"},{"product_id":"being-there-book-tony-leon-9781776193813","title":"Being There","description":"Tony Leon, longest serving leader of the opposition in democratic SA and acclaimed columnist and analyst, goes behind the scenes of what happened when history was being made in this country and around the world.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52660750057745,"sku":"NLS9781776193813","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52693077459217,"sku":"GOR014579263","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52754585649425,"sku":"NIN9781776193813","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781776193813.jpg?v=1762265915"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-au\/collections\/author-books-by-tony-leon.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}