by Emmanuel Osanedum and Mark Amaza

From those who would preserve the myth because it comforts the world to those who insist he was all too human, these 20 assessments of the man called Mandela, curated by Emmanuel Osanedum and Mark Amaza will give wholesome insight as to his legacy

 

Lynne Duke passed on in April, before the man whose obituary she co-wrote: http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/nelson-mandela-ex-president-of-south-africa-dies-at-95/2013/12/05/33558832-5df7-11e3-bc56-c6ca94801fac_story.html

They saw Mandela’s face for the last time: http://www.haaretz.com/news/nelson-mandela-1918-2013/.premium-1.563020

 

Including a revelation Mandela embargoed until after his death, the first draft of Bill Keller’s obituary for the New York Times was written eight years ago, and it comes in, finally, at 6500 words: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/06/world/africa/nelson-mandela_obit.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0&smid=tw-share

 

This, for The Indispensable: http://world.time.com/2013/12/05/the-indispensable-man-nelson-mandela-1918-2013/

 

Premium Times mourns a peculiarly African loss: http://premiumtimesng.com/opinion/151001-editorial-nelson-mandela-1918-2013-an-enduring-lesson-for-african-leaders.html

 

The economic verdict on Mandela is mixed, according to the New Yorker: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2013/12/nelson-mandelas-mixed-legacy.html

 

Not exactly a tribute, but a peek, perhaps, into where Mandela stood on sanctions: http://www.newsday.com/opinion/oped/opinion-nelson-mandela-a-true-believer-in-sanctions-1.6604606

 

When is making money off the Mandela name a bit too much?: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/the-branding-of-nelson-mandela/2013/12/12/e33307c0-62a2-11e3-a373-0f9f2d1c2b61_story.html

 

On the CIA and the capture of Nelson Mandela: http://www.democracynow.org/2013/12/13/one_of_our_greatest_coups_the

 

The story of Mandela and Winnie is the – epic – story of the great love of one’s life, lost: http://mobile.news.com.au/world/the-madness-of-nelson-and-winnie-how-mandelas-greatest-love-broke-his-heart/story-fndir2ev-1226777540512

 

This personal essay mourns “the statesman and the revolutionary and the terrorist and the neoliberal and the ethicist and the pragmatist and the saint and don’t you dare try to discard or remove any part of that whole. Celebrate him? Sure, but then make sure you’re willing to consider emulating him”: https://blogs.swarthmore.edu/burke/blog/2013/12/06/be-nelson-mandela/

Nadine Gordimer speaks affectionately of her countryman: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/12/mandela-my-countryman.html

JM Coetzee emerges with a lament “that Madiba “may well be the last of the great men”:  http://www.smh.com.au/comment/nelson-mandela-held-his-turbulent-country-together-during-dangerous-years-20131206-2yus8.html#ixzz2n9FUC5jw

But this letter says no to those who want to avoid his complexity; the intensity of his anger: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_12/mandela_was_no_care_bear048084.php

 

First the peacemaker, then the fighter http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/12/13/world/africa/after-tributes-to-mandela-the-peacemaker-recalling-mandela-the-fighter.html

 

Ayana Mathis, author of The Twelve Tribes of Hattie, finds words insufficient: http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/books/2013/12/mandela-in-verse-myself-i-stood-in-the-storm.html

So, Teju Cole takes a single Mandela photo, and shares a stunning tale: http://thenewinquiry.tumblr.com/post/69179658566/the-island

 

The Huffington Post gets some of the brightest and best photo tributes: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/06/nelson-mandela-tributes_n_4398119.html

 

YNaija shares the moment he was released from prison, and 9 other remarkable videos: http://www.ynaija.com/the-moment-he-was-released-from-prison-9-other-remarkable-nelson-mandela-videos-watch/

And Maya Angelou wraps it up beautifully with this poem: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2013/12/07/video-maya-angelous-moving-tribute-poem-to-mandela/

 

– See the full Y! Special tribute to Mandela on ynaija.com/mandela