Long Walk To Freedom: Nelson Mandela

Big ole long book this one! In the first fifty or so pages I wasn't sure I was going to make it through to the end. But then Mandela's story started to sync up with the history of South Africa and I got a bit more hooked. Nelson Mandela is like many great men. Determined, resolute, stubborn, and flawed. I'm not sure he would say anything else. Like so many in leadership there comes a point where family is neglected. In his latter years he fronts that up, in fact the whole book mellows. Its left me with a couple of questions. The first is around the way that Mandela deals with Winnie's downfall. He seems so supportive, and yet has no hesitation in binning her. I think its to his credit in some ways that he leaves out the details of intensely personal things.

My other question is slightly politically hertical. I can't help but winder if Nelson Mandela was orchestrated to come to power. As I understand it he was one of a number who went to jail. He was one of a number who could have taken over. But it seems that at the end of his time in prison he was groomed to be this new leader. I just have a feeling that there were others (not necessarily South Africans, almost definitely not ANC people), who were working to make Madiba the top man. I felt slightly sad that there was an air of puppetry around the whole thing.

In terms of reading... slow start, gets going in the middle. Its very linear in its narrative, not untypical of autobiography but.. It has to be worth a look just to understand the story of South Africa..