Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

One of the best stories that has ever been told. Beautifully written and greatly inspiring. A must read.

An account of heroism, freedom and Emancipation for the African Continent.

Understanding the unique life of the world's most loved and respected State's Man is a reminder of what humanity should aspire to. A story of pain, suffering and persecution for beliefs. At the same time it is a story of hope

CRANKY'S BOOK CLUB REVIEW OF LONG WALK TO FREEDOM: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF NELSON MANDELA Our meeting was smaller than usual tonight, largely because this is an extremely long book! We’re always pleased to have new group members but we were especially pleased to welcome Barbara, a new group member tonight: not only had she witnessed some of the historical events in the book unfolding first hand, but she could also tell us what Nelson Mandela himself told her friend what he thought of his own book – we’ll spill those beans at the end of our review! This was the least divisive of all our reads so far, which may be a result of tonight's smaller group. We all agreed the book was a worthwhile read for many reasons; most of us starting out with a deep admiration for Nelson Mandela that was bolstered by the book. We found the book a little dry (understandable, as it was largely a history book) but also very readable, and those of us who finished it found it moving and profound, detailing the many decades of patient but tenacious effort and the eventual successes that Mandela and the ANC achieved in countering the horrific inequities of the apartheid system, the cruelties of prison wardens, governors and the judicial system as a whole, and at least some of the casual racism faced by every non-white South African on a daily basis. Some of us felt that the book worked as a kind of manifesto or guide for living, and others commented that it was clear that a sharp legal brain was behind it. We remarked on how Mandela’s life had been shaped by his experience of tribal conflict management, in particular, the egalitarian manner in which everyone was listened to and how this most likely informed the reparations process. We also noted how he had been shaped his British Methodist religious and academic schooling, and that while he had rejected the notion of a superior British system of schooling, the discipline and intellectual rigour that he gained from that grounding had stayed with him and served him extremely well. We went on to discuss the degree to which the book was a ‘warts and all’ account of Mandela’s life. While he certainly admitted neglecting his family in favour of ‘the struggle’ and provided some very honest accounts of this neglect, the drive of the book was centred on the need to overthrow the apartheid system and Mandela and the ANC’s rise to power. Some of us felt that the book would have been dramatically improved by provision of more detail on his family life. We spoke about gender inequality in the book and we doubted whether there could ever have been a ‘female Mandela’, at least in the time-frame covered in the book. It was noted that Mandela had been criticised for not including the highly influential freedom fighter Steve Biko in the book, and we talked about an unintended effect of the ANC’s creation of Mandela as the figurehead of the struggle was the removal of the spotlight from thousands of people who struggled against apartheid, losing their freedom, health or lives for the cause without fanfare. What did Mandela make of his own book? We hoped it had been a cathartic experience for him and he himself wrote that it occupied him and his ANC political prisoner companions on Robben Island for many years – but, when Barbara’s friend asked him to sign a copy of his book after it had been published, he refused. He told her (to paraphrase) that he had needed to get it out of his system but that he wasn’t happy with it and would write it very differently if he had another chance. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for us all, he never got that chance. We gave the book an average rating of 7.5 out of 10.