In 1961, Mandela was convicted for inciting people to strike and leaving the country without a passport and sentenced to five years' imprisonment. Mandela joined the African National Congress in 1950 and describes his organisation of guerrilla tactics and underground organisations to battle against apartheid. In the second part of the book, Mandela introduces political and social aspects of apartheid in South Africa, and the influences of politicians such as Daniel François Malan who implemented the nadir of African freedoms, as he officially commenced the apartheid policies. A minority was not to be clashed by a majority.' (p. 29) He also writes 'Democracy meant all men to be heard, and the decision was taken together as a people. He mentions his education at the University of Fort Hare, and his practice of law later on. Mandela describes his education at a Thembu college called Clarkebury, and later at the strict Healdtown school, where students were rigorously put in routines. His Xhosa birth name was Rolihlahla, which is loosely translated as 'pulling the branch of a tree', or a euphemism for 'troublemaker'. In the first part of the autobiography, Mandela describes his upbringing as a child and adolescent in South Africa and being connected to the royal Thembu dynasty. Mandela dedicated his book to ' my six children, Madiba and Makaziwe (my first daughter) who are now deceased, and to Makgatho, Makaziwe, Zenani and Zindzi, whose support and love I treasure to my twenty-one grandchildren and three great-grandchildren who give me great pleasure and to all my comrades, friends and fellow South Africans whom I serve and whose courage, determination and patriotism remain my source of inspiration.' Overview The last chapters of the book describe his political ascension and his belief that the struggle still continued against apartheid in South Africa.

He later achieved international recognition for his leadership as president in rebuilding the country's once segregationist society. Under the apartheid government, Mandela was regarded as a terrorist and jailed on the infamous Robben Island for his role as a leader of the then-outlawed African National Congress (ANC) and its armed wing the Umkhonto We Sizwe. The book profiles his early life, coming of age, education and 27 years spent in prison. It was ghostwritten by Richard Stengel and first published in 1994 by Little Brown & Co. Long Walk to Freedom is an autobiography credited to South African President Nelson Mandela.

A walk to freedom