Mandela: An Illustrated Autobiography by Nelson Mandela
Mandela: An Illustrated Autobiography
by Nelson Mandela
I picked this book up off the library shelves about a week after Nelson Mandela passed away; as a book of photographs, I expected it to be a quick read. It was not. There was a ton of text. But it was a fascinating read.
Going into this book, I knew just a little about apartheid in South Africa, most of which I learned from reading Waiting for the Rain in 8th grade. My knowledge of Nelson Mandela pretty much consisted of:
1- the twins on the Cosby show were named Nelson & Winnie in honor of Nelson Mandela & his wife
2- one day in elementary school music class, my music teacher played us songs from Paul Simon's Graceland album and explained that that weekend someone named Nelson Mandela was going to be released from prison and it was a big deal because he was imprisoned just for wanting many of the things we take for granted
3- an entire run of Saturday morning cartoons was taken over by news coverage showing his release, and I watched every single moment of it, trying to remember what the teacher had told us about this and not understanding much
4- Nelson Mandela won the Nobel Peace Prize and helped unite the country as he fought for equal rights
5- Contestants on the Amazing Race visited one of his prison cells in an episode and I couldn't believe being locked in a place like that for so long
And that's it. Seriously. I didn't know any of the details. I certainly didn't know that his father was royalty or that his wife had been arrested. I didn't know how incredibly long the struggle went on before achieving something of a victory.
I found this book to be quite eye-opening, both in teaching me a lot and in revealing that I know pretty much NOTHING about what went on in South Africa. It made me feel stupid a whole lot of times. For example, I had no idea that there was such a large population of Indians in South Africa who were part of the struggle. I also fail to understand the differences among the terms "coloured," "black," and "African" which are used sometimes all at the same time, as if I should understand the cultural meanings/significance behind each. Also, there were plenty of terms thrown around like ANC that I was expected to know and I either missed the one and only explanation or there was no explanation for some of them. Mandela wrote the book to tell his story, all the details that really explain the turns in his life that led him to who he became and where he ended up. He didn't write the book to explain the eons of background that it would be helpful to know in order to really understand what's going on in the political movements.
Once I admitted to myself that I just wasn't going to understand things fully, I felt a little better. I don't read a whole lot of biographies or autobiographies, for that matter, but this was a great one. I loved everything from his description of his childhood to his insights about the struggle as seen through prison bars. Some of the inhumanities he endured are just unbelievably cruel, and not everyone was as lucky as he was; Nelson received a good education and was able to have connections not everyone would have. But his strength of faith in justice both as a lawyer and a freedom fighter was incredible, as was his ability to evaluate a situation and speak from his heart to influence the hearts of others. He was such an amazing man, but his autobiography shows how humble and realistic he was. It also showed just how bad situations got.
I loved the photographs. I loved seeing the landscape and locations. I loved seeing the real people involved. I loved seeing moments of history through his eyes, images he chose to represent parts of his story. Some of the photos of him visiting the prison years later were haunting but beautiful--that someone who went through such horrible things there could come to a time in his life where he could go back and remember and share and it would lose the power it once had over him. My other favorite photos were of the long voting lines winding around the dirt and trees as people got to vote for the very first times in their lives.
The only other thing I didn't like about the book was that sometimes the photos and captions for the photos showed events pages and pages before they happened in the book itself. The overall order was chronological, but sometimes the timeline jumped around a little bit within each overall section, making it a little difficult for me to get a handle on.
But the faults (the spoilers and the fact that I was just not as knowledgeable as I would have liked to have been) were small compared to everything I got out of it. I am so glad I read this book.
A few quotes that stuck with me:
"There is nothing so encouraging in prison as learning that the people outside are supporting the cause for which you are inside."
"For to be free is not merely to cast off one's chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others."
"I have walked that long road to freedom. But I have discovered that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb."