Lisa Saturday Book Shelf : Non- Fiction

Today I am exploring the Non Fiction section of the library and my January book selection is :

Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela 

“Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand history – and then go out and change it.” –President Barack Obama
Nelson Mandela was one of the great moral and political leaders of his time: an international hero whose lifelong dedication to the fight against racial oppression in South Africa won him the Nobel Peace Prize and the presidency of his country. After his triumphant release in 1990 from more than a quarter-century of imprisonment, Mandela was at the center of the most compelling and inspiring political drama in the world. As president of the African National Congress and head of South Africa’s antiapartheid movement, he was instrumental in moving the nation toward multiracial government and majority rule. He is still revered everywhere as a vital force in the fight for human rights and racial equality.

Long Walk to Freedom is his moving and exhilarating autobiography, destined to take its place among the finest memoirs of history’s greatest figures. Here for the first time, Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela told the extraordinary story of his life — an epic of struggle, setback, renewed hope, and ultimate triumph. 
The book that inspired the major motion picture Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

Book Review:

I bought this book to find out more about Nelson Mandela, apart from the news reports and the usual hyperbole, I knew next to nothing about his life. An excellent and ‘easy’ read, you can hear his voice and see his face as you read, honest with the confidence of someone who knew he was on the ‘right side of history’. He communicates easily with genuine compassion. The middle part of the book, his time in prison, is written with complete authenticity and such vivid clarity, virtually every paragraph makes you take a breath. You read how he kept his dignity, integrity and above all his humanity in the fight against a racist police state. He comes across as very stubborn, educated, tough and articulate but above all a humanitarian, something other ‘freedom fighters’ could learn from. A long read but highly recommended.