The Authorised Biography of Desmond Tutu

Rabble-Rouser For Peace

The authorized biography of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, one of the world's most charismatic peace campaigners and spiritual leaders, now in paperback

Definitive biography of a truly phenomenal life

First working as a journalist in South Africa, and then as Tutu's Press Secretary, John Allen was invited to join the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as Director of Communications in 1995. Next he was aide to Tutu when the Archbishop taught in Atlanta for two years. Thus he has had a unique opportunity to observe his subject at first hand and is being given complete access to the Archbishop's personal and public files. He lives in South Africa.

Rabble-Rouser for Peace is the first book to tell the full story of how a boy from South Africa's poverty-stricken black townships became one of the world's best-known religious figures, a moral icon to those who work for peace and justice everywhere. 
 
Drawn from 30 years of the author's first-hand contact with Desmond Tutu, this is not only a vivid character study of a public figure with a unique capacity to communicate warmth, humour and compassion; it is also a rich account of his dynamic place in history. 
 
The story of Desmond Tutu's life tells a crucial part of South Africa's history and its movement from Apartheid towards peace, but it also follows the growth of one of the best loved and globally most recognised men of our time.

Desmond Tutu

John Allen

Archbishop Desmond Tutu is no stranger to controversy. From racism and social injustice, to the threat of AIDS, the continuing crisis in the Middle East and the importance today of 'ubuntu' (the concept of shared humanity), the Archbishop expresses his views powerfully and honestly, showing how faith and politics are inextricably linked. A forceful opponent of apartheid and later a compelling leader of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 and has remained a leading campaigner for human rights ever since. In 2009, he was awarded the highest civilian award in the United States, the Presidential Medal, by Barack Obama. 
 
This collection brings together some of the Archbishop's key speeches, sermons, lectures and exchanges from the past three decades, charting the trajectory of his extraordinary career and showing why he remains one of the world's best-loved and most outspoken religious figures. Edited by John Allen, a journalist and former aide of the Archbishop, God is Not a Christian reveals Archbishop Desmond Tutu in his own words.

John Allen

Books by John Allen

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