Struggle is My Life

by Nelson Mandela

Book Overview

"My political beliefs have been explained in my autobiography, The Struggle Is My Life".--Nelson Mandela.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0873486625
• ISBN13: 9780873486620
• Release Date: June 1986
• Publisher: Pathfinder Press (NY)
• Length: 280 Pages
• Weight: 4.30 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Classic essays and speeches

Lovers of good political writing will enjoy this. I was greatly inspired by the first edition of this while I was a college student in the 1980s (when Mr. Mandela was still imprisoned). Among the highlights are "Bantu Education" (1950s), a look at how the educational system for Black South Africans was designed to produce a class of cheap labor (as a Black South Carolinian, I can relate). Mandela's court speech prior to his imprisonment in 1964 reads like a South African "I Have A Dream" as he eloquently states the case of Black S/Africans and his willingness to be a martyr for that cause. (Check the actual sound recording of this on the CD "The Voice of Nelson Mandela" for the full effect). Later, we see the level of principle of Mr. Mandela as he spurns offers for freedom under the conditions set by the S/A government in the 80s. We also read his post-release speech as well as his calls for peace among warring factions in S/A. Makes you wish for eloquent, principled, and effective leaders like this in America. At least it can inspire future generations toward that direction. By all means, read it.

"?An Ideal For Which I'm Prepared To Die."

What a bottomless well of encouragement and inspiration one gets from its reading! Nelson Mandela, basing himself on the mass of Black, Colored and Indian, workers, peasants and other democrats of South Africa, was unbreakable at the hands of the horrific, murderous and terrorist system of aparthied. Akin to Nazis Germany, the Jim Crow USA South and Zionist Israel, South Africa enjoyed the backing of the US and British and Israeli governments until it was overthrown.Joining the African National Congress in 1944 at age 26, he and other youth would lead its transformation from and organization of " gentlemen with clean hands" to the mass revolutionary democratic movement that would lead the revolution over apartheid. Doing so even while in prison for nearly 30 years. He was finally released in 1990 at age 72 and was soon after elected South Africa's president.

Mandela in his own words

For decades, a popular demand in South Africa and around the world was: Free Nelson Mandela! This book does an excellent job of showing just why Mandela was so popular among the masses in his country and so feared and hated by apartheid's rulers. He was a first-class revolutionary who fought for decades for his country's freedom and always believed in the power of the masses of people to make change. This book is so inspiring because you read Mandela in his own words, starting as a student leader in the 1940s to a leader of the African National Congress's armed wing in the 1960s to an internationally known political prisoner in the 1980s. He never gave up and he outlasted the vicious apartheid system. The photos in the book also do a great job of showing what the struggle against apartheid was like.

Freedom struggle against apartheid -- Mandela's own words!

What a wonderful experience-- reading and studying speeches and documents prepared by Nelson Mandela during five decades of struggle against the apartheid regime in South Africa! Here are key documents of the African National Congress, including the Freedom Charter that became the central document of the mass movement that brought down apartheid. Also Mandela's speeches at different stages of the struggle, including historic courtroom addresses when he was on trial for his life; documents Mandela prepared as the apartheid regime was forced to negotiate with him and the ANC in the late 1980s; and his first speeches after he was released from prison in 1990. These speeches give a vivid reminder of the brutal, racist regime that was apartheid (and we should never forget that the South African regime was a pillar of U.S. domination in Africa from the 1940s on.) Mandela gives us a real feel for the determined, difficult, and courageous struggle of millions of people who never accepted submission to apartheid and the world-wide importance of the fight for a democratic, nonracial South Africa. And you see truly inspiring leadership in the persons of Mandela and his fellow leaders in the ANC. Don't miss the 32-pages of photos that really help bring this rich struggle to life as well!