Over all a very good book. As the reader you get to learn a lot about a great man. Very detailed which depending on the type of books you like can be good or bad.

I’ve put off reading this book thinking I would not understand it due to being born after apartheid and being a white Afrikaner in South Africa.

After reading this book, I’ve come to realise that the opposite is true. This book instilled in me a new perspective, filled gaps in my general knowledge about the apartheid struggle and perhaps most significantly, it fostered a new appreciation for those who faught for change.

I loved this book and his story. It was fascinating to read the history of my country and the role Nelson played in the present South Africa. He was an amazing person and this book was very easy to read. Truly life changing.

I knew embarrassingly little about modern South African history and this was a very engaging way to learn more.

How on earth do you a review a book like this? Mandela was incredible - so much courage, determination, sacrifice, single-mindedness, patience, dignity, cleverness, charisma, sense of justice.... I could go on. It is an awe-inspiring, crucial political journey this memoir takes us through, and I have continued straight into volume 2.

Un fantastico e completo ritratto della vita di una delle persone più importanti dell'ultimo secolo. Imperdibile!!!

This autobiography was stunning from page 1 to the end. I didn't want to put it down and it was over 600 pages. What an extraordinary life. Just amazing what he endured and his intelligence and dedication to freedom that kept him going through years in prison and years of apartheid rule that kept blacks down and poor and treated them horribly and way "less than" whites. Nelson's amazing ability to surmount all that stupidity and survive to see some movement in the way blacks were treated is a testament to his intelligence and guts and also how godawful and sad prejudice is.

I highly recommend this book. Don't be intimidated by the number of pages. They fly by. Not once did I want to put it down.

First of all I didn't expect that reading an autobiography will be so exiting. The book start with a very slow beginning where reader will be puzzled with African names and places. Mandela described on how his father fell from power. How he was adopted by a Regent, and given a western education. The book starting to catch attention when Mandela drop from his studies, ran away from home and start living in Johannesburg where his political conscience started to wake. He started to be influenced by political thinking when he start his clerkship. He then joined ANC and started planning, ANC event to opposed the Nationalist Apartheid policies. He eventually been put on trial for treason, where his business as lawyer eventually have to be closed. His first wife left him afterward. He then taken a second wife which have the same political thinking as his. Although he is freed from the treason suit. He eventually been caught again after his global tour pledging support for the militarization of ANC. The first volume ended with his inspiring speech in court on which he refuse to defend himself and sentenced for 5 years jail term.

Definitely will re-read this once have a chance!

cannot stress how much i feel like people should read this book — an example of a really well-done memoir. originally read for class but would reread again in a heartbeat

Having lived through part of the experiences described in the book, I am impressed about the raw reality contained between its pages. Worth your while given what has hit the world in 2020.

Such a great introduction to south African history more generally. Definitely very long but very very thorough. Also if u grew up in the west odds are u have tons of misconceptions abt Mandela and should unlearn them bc they're liberal propaganda:)

This was a wonderful read. I was traveling in South Africa for work and decided to take the opportunity to read this book. It brought to life my guide walking me through the Apartheid Museum and Soweto. The book added context where there was not enough time for the guide to provide me with the zeitgeist of the time and those feelings building up to the shooting in the Church in the 1970s which brought global attention to Apartheid and the horrors being inflicted on the South African people by their police.

Reading this while traveling in South Africa brought the struggles to life for me that as a woman of color in the US who would most likely be labeled as Arab under the caste system in South Africa how lucky I have been to be born in a nation where my spouse and I are so different and yet still allowed to be married. Imagine a world where you could not marry the person you love because of their ethnic background. In many Americans' lifetimes, there has not been a law on the books which prevents a white person from marrying a person of color. We still have a long way to go, but we are so far ahead here. If you have the opportunity to Dr. Mandela's story, please do and if you are traveling in South Africa definitely read this book. You will miss so much if you are not seeing it through this lens.