Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela

Long Walk to Freedom is an autobiography written by South African President Nelson Mandela.  It was first published in 1994.  The book covers his early years as a child, his education and 27 years in prison.  He was jailed at the infamous Robben Island for his role as a leader of the ANC.  Under the apartheid government he was regarded as a terrorist. Later, after release from prison, he was to become the President of South Africa and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.   

This is a very long read.  My paperback version is 638 pages.  The middle part moves a little slow at times as he spent 27 years in prison, and he goes into detail about his experiences in prison.   I have a fascination with the African Continent, its history, geography, and especially the periods of the colonization of Africa by the Europeans.   The political and ethnic complications and history of the continent are extortionary, interesting and fascinating to study.  I enjoyed reading Long Walk to Freedom, because it is a story of the political evolution of South Africa told from the perspective of a man who was raised in a traditional tribal system as a young boy and then became very well educated by English higher education institutions and, according to the book, was a self-described Anglophile.    I get the impression that he would have preferred to use other methods than he and the ANC did to change the political structure, however they did ultimately result in violence and associating with political ideologists that he suggested were more out of matter of convenience than shared ideology. He claimed not to be a Communist, although he associated with them, however he certainly can be accurately described as a Socialist and was influenced by Marxism.    One biographer, Tom Lodge, said “for Mandela, politics has always been primarily about enacting stories, about making narratives, primarily about morally exemplary conduct, and only secondary about ideological vision, more about means rather than ends.”  It appears from reading his book that the “means rather than ends” mentality is what landed him in prison. 

Regardless of one’s opinion of the outcome of events orchestrated by Mandela and his associates, or of the man himself, the book is extremely interesting, educational, and worth reading to anyone who has an interest in the history and political developments in South Africa.