Mandela: The Authorized Biography

What a life! I was changed by this book. I grew up in a tradition which saw Mandela as a dangerous communist. Based on the assumptions I was taught in my sub-culture, I would have expected Mandela to follow the course of change which took place with majority rule in Zimbabwe. Instead I saw a leader who was gracious and interested in reconciliation. This book gave me additional insight to begin to understand why. Mandela should be remembered as this book presents him, a giant of our times. Read this book, especially if you tend to alt-right. It just may show you the danger of this trend and lead you to more tolerance and hopefulness.

A well written history of a brilliant man for the times

3 Peaceful Game Changers: Christ, Ghandi, Mandela. This was a great read: interesting and educational.

Have you ever felt frustrated as a tourist that you had trouble seeing beneath the surface of the sights around you? When visiting South Africa in 2011 for the first time, I ran into this problem. I had read a fair number of South African books before the trip, but the sights around me when I got there raised more and more questions. When I found Anthony Sampson's biography of Mandela, it was like water for intense thirst. Six hundred pages later, I wanted only more. Sampson's work brings together psychology, history, and politics in a rich and authoritative web. He offers understanding that doesn't pretend to be complete, insight without presumption, complexity without detachment.

Wonderful book about a wonderful man.

To many people Nelson Mandela is an image, a figure known only through the visual media. What this biography does is to show the complete dimensions of this man and eventually how this highly intelligent and straightforward leader dealt with the chaos of a South African regime mired in the past. Besides Mandela himself the book does a great job showing the incredible (and almost unbelievable) contradictions of Winnie Mandela and how several friends and colleagues of Mandela dealt with apartheid. I found the midsection of the book on Mandela’s 27 years in prison fascinating. Times, especially the early times, were brutal; other times like his very last years were low security. Mandela’s steadfastness and inner strength through almost three decades of confinement and his ability to see his jailers as human beings and not just enemies were remarkable (and truly unique) personal traits. Starting as a young leader who condoned violence against a violent regime, Mandela’s personal development is traced beautifully in this biography. I highly recommend it.

this was a very detailed book and the author really made his life come alive. Mandela's life story really showed his humanity.

I wanted a part of history, and I got it. I haven't completed the book yet, but it is very informative.

The book repays reading

I really enjoyed this book and found it very imformative,it does not leave much to the imagination which is a good thing considering it is a biography would recomend it to anyone.

Was a little heavy going

Excellent purchase really pleased with the book.I am looking forward to my holiday when I can settle down and enjoy reading this autobiography.

This is an important book but also a big one...so get it on Kindle if you want to save luggage space or room in your bag. it is a long read but a fascinating one,