Biography nelson mandela book

Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape "Donate to the archive" User icon An illustration of a person's head and chest. Sign up Log in. Search icon An illustration of a magnifying glass. Metropolitan Museum Cleveland Museum of Art. Internet Arcade Console Living Room. Open Library American Libraries. Search the Wayback Machine Search icon An illustration of a magnifying glass.

Unlike his friend Anthony Sampson's accountMandela's book does not discuss the alleged complicity of de Klerk in the violence of the eighties and nineties, or the role of his ex-wife Winnie Mandela in that bloodshed. Mandela became the President of South Africa in The book won the Alan Paton Award in and has been published in many languages, including an Afrikaans translation by Antjie Krog.

Mandela personally awarded the film rights to the book to Singh's company some years before Singh believes that as the film is based on Mandela's writing, it will be the "definitive" biopic of him. The full release happened on Christmas Day in the United States. In an obituary of Mandela, The Times of London reported that the latter chapters of Long Walk to Freedom had been "ghosted by a skilful US journalist", and that Mandela had later started work on a second set of biographies nelson mandela book without a ghost writer.

Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikidata item. Autobiography of Nelson Mandela. This article is about the Nelson Mandela autobiography. For other uses, see Long Walk to Freedom disambiguation. Overview [ edit ]. Reception [ edit ].

There is the part of Mandela that is shown to be a loyalist to others to the point of not being able to see their faults. Despite all of this, he helped to harness a nation that was full of divisions and to mold it into a nation of various cultures that is growing in world influence. A tribute to a human being not a superhuman hero. I love this book because it is very objective, but also very interesting and easy to read.

I have had only limited knowledge about South Africa and Apartheid, even though I visited this country last summer, so I was glad that Mr. Meredith presented a big picture and explained overall culture and characterized each person thoroughly. The book is long, but it reads quickly. A very well written and researched book. In it, you realise Mandela's mythical status is very much justified and buttressed through the personal sacrifice and subsequent magnanimity upon his release from prison.

What a man, a rare kind, may he rest in peace and power. Amarjeet Singh. This has to be hands down the best biography of Nelson Mandela.

Biography nelson mandela book: Long Walk to Freedom is his

Meredith charts Mandela's entire life and revolutionary activities which led to his imprisonment and subsequent heroic stance against the segregationist authorities from therein. More prudently, Meredith dispels the myth that Mandela was a Gandhian pacifist with enough strong evidence to argue that the Mandela Pacifist is a common misreading but a misreading nonetheless.

This hope, this unshakeable belief of freedom, persistence, persistence and persistence of negotiations, led to the end of apartheid in Another thing, good things take time to happen, heck, it took Mandela a whole lifetime! He refused the notion of white-communities' veto-power suggested by the National Party Afrikaners. Thinking out loud, when would UN do the same?

Surely there could be other better decision metrics to be adopted e.

Biography nelson mandela book: Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South

Just my musings. What do you think? This isn't a quick read, but it's a worthwhile one, especially if like me you're coming to it with little to no knowledge of South African history and the anti-apartheid movement. Meredith devotes a lot of space to the people and politics around Mandela, giving useful pocket histories of the ANC, the National Party, and the political environment out of which apartheid arose.

I was also very pleased to find this isn't a hagiography. Meredith clearly admires Mandela, but he doesn't gloss over the mistakes he made, not only in his personal life but as a politician both before and after his imprisonment. The man presented here sometimes loses his temper, miscalculates and misses key opportunities to gain points against his political opponents, and his achievements seem that much more admirable because of it.

I enjoyed this biography, especially because I felt it a somewhat unbiased view of his life. It did not intentionally omit all his shortcomings, especially in relation to his family situation and his leadership. I appreciated that candor immensely especially since far too often historical figures are sanctified and viewed as having no human faults or shortcomings.

Which aside from being totally inaccurate is also extremely misleading and unhelpful. Granted the book did glorify him to a degree, but I felt this was warranted considering his life expereinces and his contributions. Overall I took from this that Mandela is as great a public figure and activist as I suspected him to be, but also a human with all the shortcomings that come with.

A different perspective on the struggle, compared to Nelson's autobiography, Long Walk To Freedom - lots of gritty details about those in Nelson's closest personal circles who may not have been as good to him as they should have been! Definitely eye-opening and gives a clearer picture of his life through non-biased eyes, however Long Walk To Freedom remains the quintessential book about Nelson, and by the man himself Mohammad Yarahmadi.

I enjoyed reading about a man who set an example for all liberty activists.

Biography nelson mandela book: Nelson Mandela: A Biography is

The very detailed description bored me at the start, but after sometime I got used to the Authur's style. Although the book is about Nelson Mandela, it goes beyond a biography and tells the story of the South African nation with whom I was merely familiar. My discussions with my South African colleague while I was reading the book made it a more interesting read.

I would definitely recommend this book. Matthew Smith. Detailed, comprehensive, and honest retelling of this man's complex and extraordinary life. Meredith never portrays Mandela as more than he is--human--and relates his missteps along with his successes. If you're looking for light reading, this isn't for you. But if you want to begin to understand the life and times of Nelson Mandela and other anti-apartheid leaders, this is a good place to start.

This volume is an enjoyable, authoritative, and balanced way to not only understand a great man, but also to understand a critical time in world history and race relations. Mandela's quest for racial justice for black South Africans as a leader of the African National Congress led to twenty-seven years of imprisonment. South African Apartheid consumed the attention of the world, coming to a head in the s.