Book review Nelson mendela: Long Walk to Freedom

Where does one start with this? The story of freedom fighter, head of state, and world leader, Nelson Mandela--a book that spans his childhood, years spent in prison, and subsequent election as president. I grew up constantly reminded that a man, this man, was seated somewhere in South Africa in a prison cell, fighting for freedom for an entire nation and group of people.

The former president started this manuscript while in prison (sometime around 1974) and concocted a plan to have the original manuscript snuck out of prison (which ended up being a smart plan since prison guards confiscated what they thought was the original manuscript). The book is long and quite detailed (at times wordy), with extra care paid to conversations and political names and roles, travels Mandela had with political heads of state, the making of the political group The ANC, the start of the movement to denounce apartheid, and a detailed family tree in the beginning.

It is a book you usually see written by a biographer (like this one written about Warren Buffet: The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life Instead, the former president wrote this one himself, taking careful pains to even talk about his childhood school and upbringing (another thing you normally see omitted from autobiographies, and sometimes biographies). Excerpts from this book could be studied in history and literature classes.

It is a poignant read written in classic autobiography style, with a strong "voice," one that has serious life lessons and inspiration for anybody at any stage of life.

The best way I can discuss this book is by talking about the highlights of each of its eleven parts:

Part 1: This is about Mr. Mandela's childhood in the country. He talks about his family tree. His family came from the royal household of the Thembu tribe: his father was an adviser to kings, and a wealthy nobleman who lost his holdings when he was fired by a magistrate from England--even though he believed that he only answered to Thembu custom and not "by the laws of the king of England." The Mandela family chieftainship was then ended. His father died when he was young and his mother handed him over to a Xhosa chief named Jongubtaba, who had offered to be his guardian.

Part 2: Mandela escapes the chief's house (along with the chief's biological son) when he learns that marriage, and a set lifestyle that included rules and no personal freedom, had been arranged for them He escaped to Johannesburg, where he worked as a night watchman and later as a law clerk as he completed his law degree ("my performance as a law student was dismal").

Part 3: Nelson Mandela as a freedom fighter. This section goes into details about the startup of the ANC, dispelling some myths. He also talks about his first wife, Evelyn Mase. The most profound and telling statement from this section (and arguably, the book) is this one:

"I had no epiphany, no singular revelation, no moment of truth, but a steady accumulation of a thousand slights, a thousand indignities, a thousand unremembered moments, produced in me an anger, a rebelliousness, a desire to fight the system that imprisoned my people. There was no particular day on which I said, From henceforth I will devote myself to the liberation of my people; instead, I simply found myself doing so, and could not do otherwise. "

Part 4: This section details the beginning of the struggle. During this time, President Mandela opened his law firm. He talks about being harrassed in court by judges and attorneys, about being served an order from the police that would legally ban him from the ANC at age thirty-five.

Part 5: Mandela discusses his first divorce and his second marriage, as well as prison life. This is where the female contribution to the apartheid struggle is introduced: "...when the women begin to take an active part in the struggle, no power on earth can stop us from achieving freedom in our lifetime." I enjoyed seeing the admiration he had for his second wife, Winnie Madikizela, pour through in this section.

Part 6: The part that stood out for me in this section: his travels to West Africa where the anti-apartheid movement received financial and moral support from West African heads of state in Liberia, Mali, Guinea, Ghana, Sierra Leone, etc. This is also the section where he discusses the violence that had increased in African townships and the decision the ANC made to add guerrilla fighters to the resistance (MK).

Part 7: After living underground for seventeen months, President Mandela was arrested for "inciting African workers to strike and for leaving the country without valid travel documents" (1962). At first he was given five years. Later, someone from his organization (the guerrilla MK) would become a snitch for the police and a few executives from the organization, including Mandela, would be jailed for years.

Part 8: This was a heart-wrenching section. He talks about the dark years on Robben Island: "I could walk the length of my cell in three paces. When I lay down, I could feel the wall with my feet and my head grazed the concrete at the other side....I was forty-six years old, a political prisoner with a life sentence." He was entitled to have only one visitor and receive one letter within a six month timeframe. During this time, his wife was being harassed, jailed, interrogated, held in solitary confinement, and he wondered, "What were the authorities doing to my wife? How would she bear up? Who was looking after our daughters? Who would pay the bills?"

Part 9: Mr. Mandela's role as an underground leader was finally visible to the public. Keep in mind, when he was first jailed, people had no idea how he looked like because pictures were banned and the prisoners even had to steal newspapers which were considered contraband. Negotiations had started and this is also when he started to write this book, "I adopted a rather unorthodox work schedule: I would write most of the night and sleep during the day." He also mentioned a student boycott in this section that was mentioned in Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa

Part 10: Serious negotiations with the government and the incoming president, De Klerk. This section showcased one of Mr. Mandela's strengths: inclusiveness. He even stated that he wasn't in favor of having his white brothers leave, he just wanted his black brothers to have rights to their country. Pivotal moment I think, especially if you've read a lot of books on post colonialism.

Part 11: Freedom, separation from his wife, details of diplomatic meetings. This section is an invigorating read as President Mandela describes the crowds upon his release, his meetings with old friends, etc. One great moment was his reminder of seeing Mrs. King seated on the stage when he gave his first speech after being released: "Mrs. Coretta Scott King, the wife of the great freedom fighter Martin Luther King Jr.. was on the podium that night, and I looked over to her as I made my reference to her husband's immortal words..." Breathtaking moment. It made me want to re-read a few of the biographies I've read on Dr. King.

"I was not born with a hunger to be free. I was born free." -Nelson Mandela