The Individual, Auto/biography and History in South Africa

iography seeks to present ‘great lives’ as storehouses of essential, “unforgettable
lessons” particularly to young adults. 6
The objectives of the ‘Makers of the Twentieth Century’ series are more ambitious. It
seeks to reach students in search of brief introductions as well as “ordinary readers”
seeking the minimum about a “life and legacy” through a form that can be “absorbed
in a single sitting”. It also wishes to command the attention of “the specialist”, with
interpretations based on “the latest research” and authors drawn from the academy. 7
Any charge that extreme concentration on the individual may distort and exaggerate is
given short shrift with the argument that
[at] critical moments the course of history can be diverted,
channelled or simply ridden by individuals who by luck,
ruthlessness or destiny are able to impose their
personality, for good or ill, upon their times. 8
The unashamed fascination for leaders and individual greatness that characterises
this series has given rise to a classificatory system of “the outstanding heroes and
villains of the century”. The great men are graded into national leaders who have
“restored the failing destinies of old nations”, like De Gaulle, Adenauer and Ataturk,
and those who created new nations out of the “collapse of European empires”, such
as Jinnah and Nkrumah. Then there are national leaders who went on to make “a
still greater impact on the international stage”, like Jan Smuts, Willy Brandt and
Franklin Roosevelt. A category is then created for those who did not make it to
government, but who nevertheless “achieved worldwide resonance as the
embodiments of powerful ideas”. Finally, a category is reserved for “the great
tyrants”, who are seen to transcend all the categories, such as Hitler, Stalin and Mao
Zedong. In the series, subjects are placed “within the context of their domestic
politics” and an attempt is made to assess “their international importance”. 9
6 Rebecca Stefoff, Nelson Mandela, back cover; p i.
7 See Editorʹs Foreword by John Campbell in Adam Fairclough, Martin Luther King, London:
Cardinal by Sphere Books, 1991, pp vi‐vii.
8 John Campbell, Editor’s Foreword in Adam Fairclough, Martin Luther King, p vii.
9 John Campbell, Editor’s Foreword in Adam Fairclough, Martin Luther King, pp vi‐vii.
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