Long Walk To Freedom

'Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand history - and then go out and change it' Barack Obama 'The authentic voice of Mandela shines through this book' The Times'Burns with the luminosity of faith in the invincible nature of human hope and dignity' Andre Brink'Splendid... This is his story and the story of that struggle and a people's victory' Desmond Tutu. The riveting memoirs of the outstanding moral and political leader of our time, Long Walk to Freedom brilliantly re-creates the drama of the experiences that helped shape Nelson Mandela's destiny. Emotive, compelling and uplifting, Long Walk to Freedom is the exhilarating story of an epic life; a story of hardship, resilience and ultimate triumph told with the clarity and eloquence of a born leader.

Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand history - and then go out and change it, Enthralling...Mandela emulates the few great political leaders such as Lincoln and Gandhi, who go beyond mere consensus and move out ahead of their followers to break new ground, The authentic voice of Mandela shines through this book...humane, dignified and magnificently unembittered, This life of a man who has been a political activist for fifty years, in one of the most difficult and complex conflicts of the twentieth century, is a major achievement, Riveting...both a brilliant description of a diabolical system and a testament to the power of the spirt to transcend it

Nelson Mandela was born in Transkei, South Africa, on 18 July 1918. He joined the African National Congress in 1944 and was engaged in resistance against the ruling National Party's apartheid policies after 1948 before being arrested in August 1962. In November 1962 he was sentenced to five years in prison and started serving his sentence at Robben Island Prison in 1963 before being returned to Pretoria, where he was to later stand in the Rivonia Trial. From 1964 to 1982, he was again incarcerated at Robben Island Prison and then later moved to Pollsmoor Prison, during which his reputation as a potent symbol of resistance to the anti-apartheid movement grew steadily. Released from prison in 1990, Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993 and was inaugurated as the first democratically elected president of South Africa in 1994. He is the author of the international bestsellers Long Walk to Freedom and Conversations with Myself.