Long Walk to Freedom - Nelson Mandela

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Title: Long Walk to Freedom Author: Nelson Mandela Genre: Biography Rating: 10/10 # pages: 586 Date read: August, 2008

Summary: The famously taciturn South African president reveals much of himself in Long Walk to Freedom. A good deal of this autobiography was written secretly while Mandela was imprisoned for 27 years on Robben Island by South Africa's apartheid regime. Among the book's interesting revelations is Mandela's ambivalence toward his lifetime of devotion to public works. It cost him two marriages and kept him distant from a family life he might otherwise have cherished. Long Walk to Freedom also discloses a strong and generous spirit that refused to be broken under the most trying circumstances--a spirit in which just about everybody can find something to admire.

Review: I can't NOT rate this book 10 out of 10 because it's such a necessary book to read in order to understand an important part of South Africa's history. I have friends who came from South Africa, and therefore thought I knew some of what had happened both during apartheid and during the disbandment of it. I was wrong. I could not have imagined the unfairness of the former and the violence of the latter. Now I understand why so many people emigrated from the country in those years.

Mandela is an amazing character who has done more for his country than just about any other person I've heard of... at least in recent history. The book ended right after the election of 1994 though, so it didn't touch much upon his and Winnie's relationship after their separation. She was respectfully and lovingly described in this book, so I'll have to look elsewhere to understand what happened to her in later years.

Long Walk to Freedom is a long book, but Mandela understands how to write interestingly, so the book escapes being either boring or heavy to get through. I highly recommend it.

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