Long Walk to Freedom

"He was as good a writer as he was a freedom fighter and president."

"This book, which is the autobiography of a global icon, really reminds us about the challenge of oppression by a relatively strong and exclusionary state, how powerful that can be as an indignity inflicted on humans, and why we should value democracy. A repressive state, like the one Mandela talks about in his personal history of living under apartheid in South Africa, reminds us that a state like that seeks to create a particular type of order. In fact, it was an example of a particularly strong state but it was one that simply didn’t respect the dignity of all people. In turn, Mandela shows us that humans really crave freedom, and they crave respectful treatment, and will go to great lengths to realize such treatment. You can see that through Mandela’s life and through the lives of black people in South Africa more generally. Ultimately, one of the most powerful ways to curb this repressive state was to create democratic rules for leadership selection and accountability. I think it’s hard to draw a distinction because his life so embodies the political struggle of black South Africans. It does offer lots of personal details, including some of his foibles and challenges with respect to personal relationships, with loves gone wrong. We also learn that he was well-educated and a law student at arguably the leading South African university, which complicates the South African story a bit. He reminds us that he’s human. I think that’s important because when we think about the politics of South Africa after apartheid, people have glorified Mandela as if the country could never have been saved or become democratic without this superhuman individual in their presence. He reminds us, through some of his personal details, that he’s like the rest of us in many ways. That said, people always ask me if South Africa could have achieved democracy without Mandela, and my considered answer is… next question, please."