Screenshot courtesy of Axios | Cover: Audible
After 30 years, the Nelson Mandela tapes
Richard Stengel — the collaborator on Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, “Long Walk to Freedom” — spent 70 hours interviewing the South African freedom fighter in 1993, after Mandela’s 27 years in prison.
Driving the news: The conversations existed on Sony cassettes and microcassettes. Now, all that rickety tape is coming to life as a 10-part podcast from Audible, “Mandela: The Lost Tapes.”
Why it matters: Listeners will hear directly from one of history’s great global figures, at length and at ease. Stengel tells Axios that Mandela is vulnerable — and at times funny, as he imitates voices, including the British teachers of his youth, and even prison guards.
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