Long Walk to Freedom (book)
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| Rendezvous with Rama | ||
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| Autobiography by Nelson Mandela | ||
| Released | 1995 | |
| Original publisher (UK) | Little, Brown & Co. | |
| Genre | Non-fiction | |
Long Walk to Freedom is an autobiographical work written by Nelson Mandela, and published in 1995 by Little Brown & Co. The text describes his early life, coming of age, education and 27 years in prison. The last chapters of the book describe his political ascension, and his belief that the struggle continues against apartheid in South Africa.
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[edit] Summary
Within the first parts of the autobiography, Mandela describes his upbringing as a child and adolescent in South Africa, and being connected to the royal Thembu dynasty. His childhood name was Rolihlahla, which is loosely translated as "pulling the branch of a tree," or a euphemism for "troublemaker."
Mandela also profoundly describes the death of his father, his introduction to his wife, Winnie Mandela, and most importantly, his education; which he described as a "British education, in which British ideas, British culture, British institutions, were automatically assumed to be superior. There was no such thing as African culture." (p.16) Mandela also goes into great detail about his resentment of his teacher re-naming him after Lord Nelson.
Within the text, Mandela reveals much of his inspiration that led up to the anti-apartheid movement. In one such instance, he states that "Chief Joyi's (a leading member of his tribe) war stories and his indictment of the British made me feel angry and cheated, as though I had already been robbed of my birthright." (p.27).
Later in the text, Mandela describes his education at a Thembu college called Clarkebury, and later at the strict Healdtown school, were students were rigorously put in routines. He mentions his education at the University of Fort Hare, and his practice of law later on.
Within the second part of the book, Mandela introduces political and social aspects of apartheid in South Africa, and the influences of politicians such as Daniel Malan who implemented the nadir of African freedoms, as he officially commenced the apartheid policies. Mandela joined the African National Congress in 1950 and describes his organization of guerrilla tactics and underground organizations to battle against apartheid.
In 1961, Mandela was convicted for inciting people to strike and leaving the country without a passport and sentenced to five years imprisonment. However, Mandela was shortly thereafter sentenced to life imprisonment for sabotage in what was known as the "Rivonia Trial," by Justice Quartus de Wet, instead of a possible death sentence. (p. 159)
Mandela describes prison time on Robben Island and Pollsmoor Prison. His 27 year tenure in prison was marked by the cruelty of Afrikaner guards, backbreaking labor, and sleeping in minuscule cells which were nearly uninhabitable. Unlike his biographer Anthony Sampson, Mandela does not accuse the warder James Gregory of fabricating a friendship with his prisoner. Gregory's book Goodbye Bafana discussed Mandela's family life and described Gregory as a close personal friend of Mandela. According to Mandela: The Authorised Biography, Gregory's position was to censor the letters delivered to the future president, and he thereby discovered the details of Mandela's personal life, which he then made money from by means of his book Goodbye Bafana. Mandela considered suing Gregory for this breach of trust.[1] In Long Walk to Freedom Mandela remarks of Gregory only that 'I had not known him terribly well, but he knew us, because he had been responsible for reviewing our incoming and outgoing mail.' [2]
Later on in his sentence, Mandela met South African president, F.W. de Klerk, and was released from prison in 1990. Unlike his friend Anthony Sampson's account, Mandela'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 South African president in 1994.
Mandela dedicated his book to "my six children, Madiba and Makaziwe (my first daughter) who are now deceased, and to Makgatho, Makaziwe, Zenani and Zindzi, whose support and love I treasure; to my twenty-one grandchildren and three great-grandchildren who give me great pleasure; and to all my comrades, friends and fellow South Africans whom I serve and whose courage determination and patriotism remain my source of inspiration."
The book won the Alan Paton Award in 1995, and is published in numerous languages, including an Afrikaans translation by Antjie Krog.
[edit] Errata
On page 584 he mentions that on his flight from Canada, he stopped above the arctic circle at a place called Goose Bay. Goose Bay latitude is 53.30N which is far below the arctic circle which is 66N.
[edit] References
- ^ Mandela: The Authorised Biography, p.217.
- ^ Nelson Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, p.614.
[edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
- Anthony Sampson Mandela: The Authorised Biography; HarperCollins; ISBN 0-00-638845-0(1999)
- Nelson Mandela; Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela; Little Brown & Co; ISBN 0-316-54818-9 (paperback, 1995)
