Nelson Mandela led South Africa to freedom during his presidency. He preached nonviolence to achieve leading his country to the relative stability that South Africa has today. He ended the notorious apartheid laws that oppressed the non-white population. He ended other oppressive practices of the South African government and led South Africa to democracy and rapid economic growth.
Nelson Mandela is a figure that is known for his seriousness, his nonviolence, and his higher level of morality. "Young Mandela" is a book that portrays Nelson Mandela as a more human character and an idealistic terrorist against the oppressive police state system that South Africa had until 1994. Writer David James Smith shows the dark side of this sanctified and iconic winner of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize.
This book is nothing like those unauthorized biographies that slander important figures like the late Princess Diana. "Young Mandela" is the authoritative biographical source for information on Mandela before his imprisonment. It is a more reliable source of information on Nelson Mandela than his own memoir. "Young Mandela" is based on the most detailed research by a more serious historian than typical biographical profiles of Nelson Mandela.
This book is different from a slanderous book in another way. "Young Mandela" shows the complexity of Nelson Mandela. Mandela does appear to be deeply flawed in this book, but this book also shows Nelson Mandela as a man that has an iron will and a higher dedication to the struggle for freedom than the mythical Mandela.
In "Young Mandela", Mandela selfishly chooses to have a family that he is willing to abandon for his activism and his idealistic terrorism plans. He is also described as being like too many patriarchal African males who are raised to live without the responsibility of a monogamous lifestyle. Like many politicians, Mandela seems narcissistic in this book.
"Young Mandela" portrays a man who is simultaneously more flawed and more devoted to freedom than the real Martin Luther King Jr. "Young Mandela" also profiles a man who has been sanctified and made a marketed brand name about as much as Dr. King.
David James Smith has accomplished what the greatest biographers of Reverend King have accomplished. He has made a civil rights legacy accessible to flawed readers. He has restored the spotlight back to a civil rights struggle in the readers' minds. Now the readers of this book can focus on the meaning of freedom itself without being distracted by a love for the man who represents the struggle for freedom to the world.
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