Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom was a really good read. What stood out most to me was his early life—after his father passed away, he was adopted by a royal family who ensured he received a good education and guided him through the cultural rites of passage into manhood. Despite all they did for him, Mandela had the courage to run away rather than submit to an arranged marriage. That boldness set the tone for the rest of his life.

At university, he took a stand against what he believed was an unfair student election process, even resigning from his leadership role and having to drop out—all because of principle. He also worked relentlessly, day in and day out, committed to the struggle.

One of the most striking ideas in the book was Mandela’s reflection on personal change. He talks about the importance of looking back at the “rivers you have crossed” to understand how far you’ve come. For me, crossing the Indian Ocean and starting a new life has brought so much growth, and reading Mandela’s journey made me pause and reflect on my own.

One part that really challenged me was how he ultimately moved away from non-violent protest, believing it was no longer effective. The book explores the complexity of his decisions—including his early resistance to interracial cooperation, his eventual embrace of sabotage, and the immense personal cost of his activism. He divorced his wife and lost much of his personal life to the cause, including the chance to watch his children grow up. His time in prison was marked by harsh and unfair conditions. He writes about the heartbreak of missing his children growing up—recalling how years, sometimes decades would pass between visits.

In the end of the book it talks about how he chose to work with the very people who had oppressed him. That willingness to compromise for the sake of peace was something I found powerful. It made me wonder—could reconciliation have been possible earlier, or was suffering the only path to freedom?

Heroic

Nelson Mandela part wrote this in 1974 while incarcerated on Robben Island, he resumed his 'Long Walk' after his release in 1990. Volume One of his remarkable autobiography covers his life from 1918 to 1962, when his fight for freedom was temporarily curtailed with a five year prison sentence.
Here is a startling memoir that documents Mandela's early development as well as that of the A.N.C. and their struggle against the South African Nationalist apartheid government that arose in 1948. 'Die kaffer op sy plek' ('the nigger in his place') was their election slogan and their belief that 'Die wit man moet altyd baas wees' (the white man must always remain boss').
Once more history gives an example of the freaks with god on their side. The Nationalists being supported by the Dutch Reformed Church that declared Africaners were God's chosen and blacks were a subservient species.
Certainly one of the most astounding political documents of any freedom fighter of the twentieth century, I now have to hope my library has a copy of volume two!

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.

A masterpiece to understand history from the point of view of a leader who had actively struggled for the cause of the people. The experiences painted were not only political in nature but shared the stories of everyday life which could be very much synonymous to the daily life of the reader thus making it easier to learn from his lessons. Hopefully we will have such good leaders in the future as well.

I read this opening half of the great Mandela opus while on my first visit to South Africa recently. I'm glad I did. So much of it makes sense only once you have spent a short while in the country.

In some ways, this is not the book I was expecting. It's not really a firebrand of a book, no revolutionary manifesto, call to arms or heady political diatribe. There's no need for that, we're on the moral high ground here. Instead, this first book is a steady, level-headed account of Mandela's upbringing, education, political awakening,legal training and early conflict with Grand Apartheid, and finally his career as an underground organiser.

Undoubtedly it's all the better for the restraintwhich is so much the mark of the Mandela we know and respect. He explores the social background, the racial tension, the politics, with a curiously dispassionate, quiet authority, and so much of the story only makes sense with some first-hand experience of how South Africa works. Perhaps the passion and horror comes in the second part.

Mandela comes over as a likeable and honest man. He's no great writer - this is an efficient, engaging, no-frills account - but A Long Walk to Freedom ends up as a highly enjoyable, accessible and valuabel read. If there are a few passages that contain rather too many lists of names of ANC organisers and the occasional disquisition on ANC politics, you can forgive him that in such a long life and skip over. Result? Four stars. Heart warming, ultimately joyous (we know the ending - so far) and profound. Quite a life. Well done indeed, Mandela!

I read an audio edition produced by Hachtte audio not listed among the 57 editions listed. Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela, Narrated by Michael Boatman, Produced by Hachette hettehettehette Audio, Downloaded from audible.com.

This is a partial autobiography of Mandela’s life-partial because it ends with his election as president after his release from prison, and much has happened since that time, almost 20 years ago now. Mandela served over 27 years in prison in South Africa because of his unswerving dedication to freeing South Africa from apartheid. This book is interesting because we see how Mandela worked with all factions, even those he did not like in government, because he knew it was necessary, in order to be successful, for all groups to work together. He never lost his belief in people. While he harbored hatred for the apartheid system created in South Africa, he did not allow himself to retain resentment against individual people. He candidly spoke of the breakup of his marriage because, in or out of prison, his work for the African National Congress always came first. The narrator had a South African accent which made this book even better because it made the reader feel as if Mandela himself was narrating the book. This is a book one could reread several times through the years for inspiration.

LONG WALK TO FREEDOM. ITS ALL ABOUT THE Journey,

The level of detail in this is genuinely impressive I learned a lot about the history of Apartheid from this. The story of Mandela’s life was super gripping and moving it’s also interesting to see his views evolved throughout his life. I thought that since this is a super long work of non-fiction that it would be at least partially boring but I finished this first volume in two days

‘I knew as well as I knew anything that the oppressor must be liberated just as surely as the oppressed. A man who takes away another man's freedom is a prisoner of hatred, he is locked behind the bars of prejudice and narrow-mindedness’ beautiful book. It’s always interesting to read biographies and find that they are very different from what you expected.

4⭐️