Publications

'Live fast, die young and have a good-looking corpse' - such was the creed of the young blacks of honky-tonk Sophiatown and District Six during the 1950s. Drum, an illustrated magazine written by a group of legendary black writers, was the microcosm of this world. Surveying the townships - the gangsters, jazzmen, beauty queens, folk heroes and illegal dagga dens - in highly charged prose, these writers also exposed the bloody realities of apartheid while charting the growing resistance movement. In Drum and in the lives of these men, Nicol records the reality and dichotomy of living in township South Africa - the hopes, the fears, the dreams and defiance of a vibrant, laughing, deadly world.

This lyrical, haunting memoir recalls the drama and emotion of an exceptional moment in contemporary history: the months surrounding the first democratic elections in South Africa. Beginning with the days of voting, glancing back to the violence at the end of 1993 and forward to the inauguration of President Mandela and beyond, the book addresses the moral issues raised by these events: is it desirable, or possible, to forgive and forget? In searching for an answer, Nicol delves into his family's settler past, into certain of the events that have marked the country's history, and records how lives are touched by major social and political change. Published to commemorate the first anniversary of the elections, The Waiting Country will contribute to the ongoing debate about South Africa's future, and at the same time provide a powerful and unique insight into the lives of ordinary people overtaken by extraordinary events.

In stark dramatic images that have burnt themselves on to the public record, Ken Oosterbroek documented the violence, the heartache and the hope of South Africa's transitional years to the election in 1994. That he was killed - shot by friendly fire when members of the National Peace-Keeping Force panicked - just nine days before polling day is one of the bitter ironies of Oosterbroek's life. In so many ways the life he led, let alone the award winning pictures he took, can be read as a cautionary tale within the larger story of apartheid's demise. Whether Oosterbroek consciously realised this remains a tantalising question, but the pictures and the details of his life suggest he had an uncanny awareness of his own destiny. For not only did Oosterbroek leave a series of powerful images, he also left moving testimonies of the Namibian border war in the early eighties, and of his daily life, both personal and professional, in a number of journals. This book is simultaneously a tribute to that life and an exploration into the darker reaches of a nation's soul.

A memoir of a year spent in Berlin in 1997, and returning to see Cape Town through the lens of that city.

The murder of Anni Dewani: the facts, the fiction, the spin. She was a bride for just twelve days. She was 28 years old. On a honeymoon to Cape Town she was murdered in a township hijacking. But was it a hijacking? Or was it a hit? Soon her husband was in the frame with two gunmen and the fixer. Monkey Business records the murder of Anni Dewani and the incredible aftermath as told by a chorus of family, friends, lawyers, spin doctors, reporters, bloggers, politicians, cops, psychologists, even a kinky sex worker, a story that played out in the international media and on social network sites. Seldom does a murder crack open such a devious world.

Mandela: The Authorized Portrait celebrates the courage, determination, and remarkable humanity of a great man and chronicles his extraordinary contribution to humankind. Much of the story in Mandela: The Authorized Portrait is told by those whose very lives he has touched. Drawing on 60 original and extensive interviews with family members, close friends, colleagues, and many of the world's leading figures in politics and entertainment, Mandela: The Authorized Portrait tells the inspirational story of an incredible man-from his birth and early childhood in rural South Africa and his involvement with and eventual leadership of the African National Congress through his 27-year imprisonment and eventual emergence as one of the world's notable leaders and most active agents for change. This richly designed portrait features a foreword by former U.S. president Bill Clinton and an introduction by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. It is illustrated with 250 images and features material taken from private collections as well as the Nelson Mandela Foundation archive-some of it published here for the first time. Mandela: The Authorized Portrait features artifacts and facsimiles of Mandela's voluminous writings and correspondence-written records of his negotiations with the prison authorities, intimate letters to his family and friends during his imprisonment, and material from Mandela's personal diaries and calendars. Mandela: The Authorized Portrait is one of the most lavishly illustrated and comprehensive tributes to Nelson Mandela's life and work ever produced.

With the passing of this extraordinary man the only joy can be to celebrate what he has left behind, his extraordinary patience and compassion, his passion for justice and reconciliation. This book explores the story he shared with all his fellow South Africans. It looks at themes which have dominated Nelson Mandela's life - his leadership, his attitude to the law and justice; democracy and human rights, and the value he placed on education. With extraordinary insight, author Mike Nicol, makes us acutely aware of Mandela the man - his courage, principles and generosity of spirit. There are many books written about Mandela but his story is too great to be told by one voice or from one viewpoint. The sensitive and accessible text is accompanied by over 80 photographs and regalia and contains a timeline of South African events mapped against key world events. A unique feature of the book is the 40 minute CD, of this icon's most famous speeches- Nelson Mandela in his own words.