11 Mar 2014

Long Walk to Freedom - by Nelson Mandela

This book took quite a while to read as it is so long. It was originally published as 2 volumes. I took a couple of breaks during reading it to catch up on other stuff.

I like autobiography generally and, in this case, there is a big slice of very significant modern history, much of which occurred during my life. I enjoyed getting the detail and background on the events that dominated the news over the years. The book is well written and easy to read, with modest size chapters that break it up into manageable pieces. Mandela does not give too much away personally - a very large proportion of the story is about the events and politics of his adult life.

The story finishes 20 years ago, when he became president. I am curious about his life thereafter. I will look out for any other books that can elucidate. I saw the movie recently, which, even thought it necessarily skipped over various parts, was reasonably faithful to the book.

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