Long Walk to Freedom

By Nelson Mandela,

Book cover of Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela

Book description

2018 is the centenary of Nelson Mandela's birth

'The authentic voice of Mandela shines through this book . . . humane, dignified and magnificently unembittered' The Times

The riveting memoirs of the outstanding moral and political leader of our time, A Long Walk to Freedom brilliantly re-creates the drama of…

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Why read it?

11 authors picked Long Walk to Freedom as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I admire Mandela’s strong character in overcoming what must’ve been his pursuit of a seemingly impossible goal. At the time, his fight was against the overwhelming strength of the people in power, who had no hesitation about using extreme force and imprisonment to prevent him from achieving his goals. 

Nelson Mandel’s autobiography from his early life through the 27 years he spent in prison before becoming South Africa's first democratically elected President.

This book taught me about trying to be a better person despite your circumstances and being wronged by others. It also gave me hope that my imprisonment could be just a chapter in my journey and didn’t need to be the defining experience of my life.

I’m often asked which leaders I most admire, and my response is always hesitant, mainly because like everyone else, leaders are flawed, and because there are lots of people who are leaders that I admire but they are not always in the public eye and often very humble people. I was in the audience when Mandela came to Oxford University in 2002 and the students spontaneously started singing the South African national anthem as he walked in; it was an incredibly moving moment. This book represents both the best kind of leader and also the personal sacrifices that are a…

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Tap Dancing on Everest By Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

An extraordinary personal testimony to courage, steadfast resolve, principle, sacrifice, and strong leadership from the greatest, most iconic figure of the 20th century. From herd-boy to freedom fighter, from prisoner to President this is an inspiring story for our age by someone my parents knew from their campaigning against apartheid in Pretoria in the late 1950s/early 1960s; and I met after he was released from prison.

From Peter's list on thrilling page-turners.

If you are looking for riveting reading, this book kept me awake into the early hours of the morning.

It isn’t just the poverty of Mandela’s beginnings that captured me, nor the cruelty of Apartheid that was so much a part of his family’s history, it is his ability to “turn the other cheek”. His defiance in the face of certain retribution because he believed that he had to make a better world for his fellow man, is an example of what true belief is all about.

Even during his hardest times during the quarter of a century that he…

Perhaps the most inspiring African figure of the twentieth century, this is Nelson Mandela’s story written in his own words. The book allows you to find out a lot more about his childhood, his struggle against apartheid, and most of all his resilience and strength of spirit during his 27-year imprisonment. Despite all his suffering and mistreatment, Mandela never gave up hope and refused to give in to hatred, even forgiving his tormentors once released. A book to be read and a message/example that we should all endeavour to follow.  

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Benghazi! A New History of the Fiasco that Pushed America and its World to the Brink By Ethan Chorin,

Benghazi: A New History is a look back at the enigmatic 2012 attack on the US mission in Benghazi, Libya, its long-tail causes, and devastating (and largely unexamined) consequences for US domestic politics and foreign policy. It contains information not found elsewhere, and is backed up by 40 pages of…

The former South African president and freedom fighter Nelson Mandela is, in so many ways, the heroes’ hero. He’s an iconic figure in the world today and will remain so long after his death. This book is such a moving autobiography, one of the finest memoirs I’ve ever read. You learn so much about the man, his early years, his battles, and his 27 years in prison, and to emerge from that such a generous and forgiving man… It blew me away. In London, I’d done some work for the Anti-Apartheid Movement in its campaign for an end to apartheid…

Long Walk to Freedom is the only book on my list written by its subject, and for this reason it may well be the most powerful. Mandela’s story—in broadest outlines—is well-known: activist, freedom fighter, prisoner, and, of course, leader of post-apartheid South Africa. But reading Mandela’s autobiography will change how you understand this man. Indeed, you will be transformed as you follow him through the radically different stages of his life, as he evolves from a violent rebel to a nonviolent visionary capable of ending apartheid without a bloody civil war, as he describes how the impossible becomes possible.  

From Todd's list on inspirational nonviolent leaders.

For me, this book gives hope to every struggle because it shows that, in the end, it is possible for the oppressed to outlive the oppressor. The story chronicles the early life of Nelson Mandela and the 27 years he spent in prison on Robben Island under the apartheid regime of South Africa. While he would later rise to become president, his prison experience shows the resilience of a man whose spirit remained unbroken under one of the most oppressive regimes ever. Mandela teaches us that the struggle against injustice and oppression must be unrelenting until total freedom is attained.

From Odafe's list on political resistance.

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Book cover of Caesar’s Soldier

Caesar’s Soldier By Alex Gough,

Who was the man who would become Caesar's lieutenant, Brutus' rival, Cleopatra's lover, and Octavian's enemy? 

When his stepfather is executed for his involvement in the Catilinarian conspiracy, Mark Antony and his family are disgraced. His adolescence is marked by scandal and mischief, his love affairs are fleeting, and yet,…

Well……duh! The term “icon” is undoubtedly overused these days, but if anyone deserves it, it would be Mandela. Published in South Africa’s annus mirabilis of 1994, when Mandela became the country’s first democratically-elected president, the book traces his rural childhood, his move to the big city, his anti-apartheid activism from the 1940s to 1960s, his 27 years imprisonment, and the difficult transition to majority rule. Mandela began the memoir secretly when on Robben Island, the maximum security jail offshore from Cape Town. Very readable, and utterly inspirational.

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