A Long Walk to Freedom

Astonishing. The man, the story, the book. I recognize that the author may be biased, that there may be perspectives we're not getting... but even so this is a remarkable and memorable work. A remarkable man and life.

First, admittedly, because of the context: to those of us who grew up with First Fourth Fifth Eighth Amendment protections, it is chilling to read of the brutality of the South African government. It's even worse to note how calmly and matter-of-factly Mandela speaks of being "banned", of topics and people that are illegal to discuss, of a life that none of us can conceive of outside of [b:1984|5470|1984|George Orwell|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1348990566s/5470.jpg|153313].

But where the book really shines is in its depiction of humanity and how lovely we can be. Mandela demonstrates a rare form of Enlightenment: an ability to communicate, empathize, understand, reflect, learn. Again, we're only getting it from his PoV and with the advantage of his age... but the humility and self-awareness that come through are not, IMO, fakeable.

Readable, captivating, beautiful. I'm about to create a must-read tag on goodreads, and this is the first book to go on that list.