Long Walk to Freedom by Mandela, Nelson (2013) Hardcover Hardcover – 1709

I can't fully express in words what this books means to me. I put off reading it for years. Mr. Mandela was released from prison in my college years and so I knew who he was, and what he accomplished on a very surface level. I always knew I wanted to know his life';s story on a deeper level.The writing is forceful, and beautiful and honest. I received inspiration, education and amazement from reading this book.Again, I can't truly do this autobiography justice in a review. If you have EVER had any inclination or interest in reading this? Trust me! It is better than you thought it could be.Let me end by saying that the best way I can describe this book is that after reading it, it made me determined to be a better person!

I am a white South Aftican who grew up in the apartheid era of South Africa. As with most of the white peers of my age I didn't know what apartheid really meant. I had also never heard the name Mandela until I went to university in 1980. A student came up to me carrying a petition in his hand and asked me to sign it. It was to free Nelson Mandela. This student told me a little about the history behind Mandela's imprisonment. I was young, obviously impressionable, but most of all I was outraged! I signed the petition and went home. When my relatively liberal parents heard what I had done they were very upset, and worried, as at that time any type of support for the ANC, and of course Mandela, was illegal. Growing up in the 60's in a country which was rife with the propoganda that the government wanted us to hear, and believe,I didn't know much about how the majority of my country lived, nor how badly they were treated.Many years later, when I worked in the medical field, I was very privileged to get the opportunity to personally meet the president. I took my hardcover edition of "The Long Walk to Freedom" with me and asked him to autograph it, which he did with extreme grace. Years later I read the very same book from cover to cover which he had signed. The book is long, and at that stage in my life I couldn't take it all in. Now that Mandela has passed I decided to get the kindle version, as I didn't want to risk ruining my precious signed edition. The second time around I am enjoying it even more. His voice rings in my ears as I read his words, and I can see him clearly in front of me. What an incredible man he was. The way in which he comes across in his book is the exact person that I met in 1994. I think that anyone who has heard the name Mandela, whether they are South African or not, and who feels they want to know this exceptional man a little better and know what true humility is should definitely read this book.

It was very fascinating to read about the life of a great personality. He was born in a small village in rural South Africa, his father passed away when he was a small child,and he was brought up by his uncle-who was a tribal chief. As a child he went to the best schools a black man could go to. He valued educations, but mentions how society and the education system were wrought with white supremacy.He runs away from home along with his cousin to avoid getting married to someone he didn't like, he carries a gun along with him and is apprehended by the police but manages to convince them to release him. In the city he takes up small jobs to make ends meet and pursues his law studies through correspondence. While working as a clerk in a law firm he is introduced to the ideals and principles of the ANC-African National Congress. He gets increasingly involved with the ANC and becomes an important member of it.He writes how oppressive apartheid was-black people lived in ghettos and needed passes to commute any where. But he also mentions his own mistakes- how he used to get carried away when he used to give speeches and argue cases.In the freedom struggle when they try everything and nothing works against the white government they decide to start a militant organisation. Mandela acknowledges that he was part of the decision making process;he expresses surprise when he is conferred the Nobel Prize because he had started a militant organisation. He goes on a world tour collecting funds. He comes back and is in hiding when he is caught by the police.He is sentenced to life imprisonment.In the prison also there is discrimination between indian prisoners and black prisoners. In jail he is offered shorts to wear-because blacks were considered boys-but refuses to wear them, so the prison guards give him a choice to wear shorts or undergo solitary confinement for a few days. He chooses solitary confinement but after a few days he pleads with the security guards to let him out. It is fascinating how even in prison there are liberal jailers too. He develops an interest in gardening and pursues his education from prison.He mentions how while he was severely tested he too questioned his own choice of joining the freedom struggle.There are certain thinks in his life you can relate to-like the mistakes he has made or the challenges he has faced-and can take solace and confidence from the fact that everybody faces them in life. But there are qualities in him-like the fact that he had the confidence to disagrees with Gandhi regarding the form of freedom struggle and choose to start a militant organisation, even when he hadn't been acknowledged as a great leader and could have been branded a terrorist; having the will power to believe in a cause for so long; having the courage to be honest about his life-which I can't relate to. I think this is what makes him great in my eyes and he is an inspiration to me.

Mandela is quite literally The Man. This book describes in as much detail as possible for a single book all of the trials and tribulations that Nelson Mandela endured personally and publicly. It shows that he is a human who makes mistakes; he is no different from the rest of us. It describes his enthusiasm and motivation in doing what is right for his people, his home, his community, his country. It details how much Mandela personally endured for a cause greater than himself, for his people, for justice. His peaceful and intellectual approach to all matters (after the learnings of his wild and sometimes aggressive youth) is what allowed him to calmly discuss differences, appeal to others, teach himself law and represent himself in court, aid in the overturn of apartheid, have hope in a future for himself and those who had been victimized in South Africa, survive unjust prison confinement, motivate others when times were bleak, and become president of South Africa.