These memoirs from one of the great leaders of our time are 'essential reading for anyone who wants to understand history - and then go out and change it' Barack Obama


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.

'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' Sunday Times

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

'Burns with the luminosity of faith in the invincible nature of human hope and dignity . . . Unforgettable' Andre Brink

*Dumpbins and posters for instore displays *Review round-ups

About the Author
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.

Reviews
Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand history - and then go out and change it * Barack Obama *
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 * Sunday Times *
The authentic voice of Mandela shines through this book...humane, dignified and magnificently unembittered * The Times *
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 * Observer *
Riveting...both a brilliant description of a diabolical system and a testament to the power of the spirt to transcend it * Washington Post *
Burns with the luminosity of faith in the invincible nature of human hope and dignity... Unforgettable * Andre Brink *
Indispensable ... a unique life-story * Anthony Sampson *
A splendid book... Justice, freedom, goodness and love have prevailed spectacularly in South Africa and one man has embodied that struggle and its vindication. This is his story and the story of that struggle and a people's victory. It is a fitting monument. It will help us never to forget, lest we in our turn repeat the ghastliness of apartheid * Desmond Tutu *
A truly stunning account of his extraordinary life... A vivid testimony to an unusual mixture of courage, persistence, tolerance, and forgiveness * Sir David Steel *
One of the most life-affirming books you'll read * GQ *
A tale of anger and sorrow, love and joy, grace and elegance * Daily News *
The autobiography succeeds because the vicissitudes Mandela has gone through in the course of his life are so dramatic that the reader cannot help responding to them as if to a fairy tale or moral fable of some kind. No hero of legend ever went through such protracted trials in order to arrive at so improbable a victory * Sunday Telegraph *
A compelling book... both a brilliant description of a diabolical system and a testament to the power of the spirit to transcend it... One of the most remarkable lives of the twentieth century * Washington Post *
A work of literature as well as an important document * Scotland on Sunday *
Most searing in its portrayal of the harshness of the island prison and the author's yearning for family life... Most exciting in its descriptions of Mandela's period underground, including his clandestine journey through newly independent Africa -- Barbara Trapido * Spectator *
An engrossing tapestry of recent South African history that grips the reader from the first pages... Riveting and sometimes painfully honest * San Francisco Chronicle *
Mandela writes with rare and moving candour * The Economist *
Long Walk to Freedom is, unexpectedly, a sociological treasure trove... a work of constant revelations -- Wole Soyinka * Times Higher Education Supplement *
Irresistible... one of the few political biographies that's also a page-turner * Los Angeles Times *
Absorbing reading... the work of a great politician who still retains the ability to reflect on himself as a mere mortal -- Beverley Naidoo * Times Educational Supplement *
A story that is at once appalling and inspirational: appalling in its depiction of the waste of human potential; inspirational in the triumph of the human spirit -- Geoffrey Howe * Country Life *
An enthralling tale told simply, the story of one man's remarkable life and of a people which finally became free * Sunday Tribune *
One of those masterpieces, perhaps the greatest of twentieth-century autobiographical literature, which is a sharp, poignant, elegant and eloquent counter to the prevailing cynicism about the rottenness of politics * Caribbean Times *
One of the most extraordinary political tales of the twentieth century and well worth the investment for anyone truly interested in the genesis of greatness * Financial Times *
An epic of struggle and learning and growing, it tells of a man whose idealism and hope have inspired a world prone to cynicism... [it] should be compulsory reading -- Mary Benson * Daily Telegraph *
This fluid memoir matches South African President Mandela's stately grace with wise reflection on his life and the freedom struggle that defined it... His belief in repairing his country inspires * Publishers Weekly *
This is an articulate, moving account of Mandela's life...Over a third of Mandela's memoir tells of his twenty-seven years in prison, an account that could stand alone as a prison narrative. He ends his book with the conclusion that his 'long walk' for freedom has just begun * Library Journal *
This memoir is remarkably free of polemics, self-pity, and self-aggrandizement. It is the work of a man who has led by action and example-a man who is one of the few genuine heroes we have * Kirkus *



Book Information
ISBN 9780349106533
Author Nelson Mandela
Format Paperback
Page Count 784
Imprint Abacus
Publisher Little, Brown Book Group
Weight(grams) 643g
Dimensions(mm) 197mm * 132mm * 53mm