"NELSON MANDELA: ""No Easy Walk to Freedom"""

by Barry Denenberg ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 1, 1991

The contemporary world may be short of leaders, but here's a forceful of not always profound) biography of one of the more admirable. From Mandela's early days as a mine guard through his radicalization, long imprisonment, release, and the triumphal world tour completed last June, Denenberg shows clearly how and why he rose to prominence and remained a force for social change in South Africa even while he was silenced for 10,000 days. Meanwhile, Winnie Mandela's own work and her role in keeping her husband's name before the public are acknowledged. Denenberg sees Mandela as a man of courage and great personal presence, with a firm commitment to nonviolence, at least as applied to people; the author ingenuously remarks that by 1961 ""the failure of all nonviolent forms of protest left no alternative"" to a program of sabotage. Gandhi is not mentioned. Paton's The Land and People of South Africa (1989) gives a fuller discussion of South African society and history; but this brings Mandela's heroic story up to date, and is capped by a substantial bibliography. B&w photos; chronology; index.

Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1991

ISBN: 059044154X

Page Count: 164

Publisher: Scholastic

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1991

Categories: CHILDREN'S