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Young Mandela: The Revolutionary Years

3.28 of 5 stars 3.28 · rating details · 50 ratings · 22 reviews

Nelson Mandela is well-known throughout the world as a heroic leader who symbolizes freedom and moral authority. He is fixed in the public mind as the world's elder statesman--the gray-haired man with a kindly smile who spent 27 years in prison before becoming the first black president in South Africa.

But Nelson Mandela was not always elderly or benign. And, in YOUNG MAND...more

Hardcover, 416 pages

Published December 6th 2010 by Little, Brown and Company (first published November 9th 2010)

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Jun 21, 2011 Elliot Ratzman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Nelson Mandela is even more my hero after this warts-and-all biography. Not too many warts: a failed first marriage, some hanky-panky, lack of physical affection for his children and perhaps the bad decision to start a family while trying to free his country from, oh, white supremacy. If nothing else, read the first chapter—scenes from his trial—and you’ll get most of Mandela right there: dignified, eloquent, charismatic, decent, even Christ-like. The biography draws on new material and zooms in...more

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Feb 16, 2011 John Martindale rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, biography, audiobook

I knew very little about Mandela and his struggle, thats why I listen to this audiobook. If I followed it correctly, Mandela did not fully embrace communism, but it was communist revolutionaries that he primarily worked with, they were influenced by Gandhi and tried non-violent civil disobedience, but eventually felt it was not working and thus decided to try a violent revolution, but their preparation and attempts were laughable. They were amateurs and poor, and it did not take long for them to...more I knew very little about Mandela and his struggle, thats why I listen to this audiobook. If I followed it correctly, Mandela did not fully embrace communism, but it was communist revolutionaries that he primarily worked with, they were influenced by Gandhi and tried non-violent civil disobedience, but eventually felt it was not working and thus decided to try a violent revolution, but their preparation and attempts were laughable. They were amateurs and poor, and it did not take long for them to get caught. Mandela was sentence for life, but after 20 something years the political scene changed and he was released and became president. Mandela, was unique among most of the Africans he worked with, for a majority were just as racist as the white, they just wanted to be the oppressors instead of being the oppressed. Mandela wanted equality. This book showed his messed up personal life, he was horrible to his wives and was a womanizer and most of those he worked with had very colored personal lives as well and yet high political ideals. Most sacrificed their families for the high cause.

You know, to me it does seem Mandela could have avoided 27 years of prison and near execution if we continued with the Gandhi method, instead of a decision in favor of guerrilla warfare. And one could argue the result would be the same, the apartheid would have still ended. So his choice for violence likely resulted in lots of unnecessary suffering for him and his family. now I think it was the same to Bonhoeffer and the others who tried to assassinate Hitler, it cost Bonhoeffer his life and it did not change anything, Hitler eventually reached his downfall anyways. I get the impression that activist see what they are doing is not bringing any change, so they then turn to more desperate means are great cost to themselves. While if they just continued what they were doing and were patient, all would be good in the end. I am sure its not that simple, but yeah, thats what comes to mind. (less)

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Dec 31, 2011 John H.D. Lucy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Nelson Mandela is no Steve Biko, as far as I'm concerned, but this book intrigued me because it claims to be a real-to-life portrayal of Mandela rather than a mythical depiction--I've never thought Mandela to be the great hero that everyone thinks he is. Besides, it was a Christmas gift.

If anyone has read my reviews before, which is unlikely, they'd know that I'm not one to talk about the actual content of the books, as any good review should. I'll simply say that anyone interested in South Afr...more Nelson Mandela is no Steve Biko, as far as I'm concerned, but this book intrigued me because it claims to be a real-to-life portrayal of Mandela rather than a mythical depiction--I've never thought Mandela to be the great hero that everyone thinks he is. Besides, it was a Christmas gift.

If anyone has read my reviews before, which is unlikely, they'd know that I'm not one to talk about the actual content of the books, as any good review should. I'll simply say that anyone interested in South Africa, Mandela, or the personal life of political revolutionaries of any kind should find this book quite useful. Rather than detailing the course of events in Mandela's life, Smith jumps behind the scenes. The reader gets to see what his family thought and felt about Mandela throughout as well as Mandela's own emotional responses to events. Smith also tries to sift through public opinion and other facts that Mandela-lovers and ANC supporters generally either downplay or ignore.

My great frustration with this book has nothing to do with it. I continue to be frustrated that so much ink is spilled over Mandela and hardly anyone pays any attention to Steve Biko simply because Mandela's ANC "won." The ANC skillfully worked the political game to receive the attention and the praise. Thankfully Smith's telling shows all the sometimes trivial political battles involved in the struggle for democracy, that Mandela and the ANC and all other political organizations involved didn't, as is normally thought, only have the country's best interest at heart. The ANC, and others, generally argued against, many times with Mandela's approval, other organizations and movements simply because they were not the ANC. That's why I wish people like Biko received more attention precisely because he wasn't exactly political. Oh well.

I also had a problem with the enormous amount of typos in the book. Typos happen, even in the best of books with the best publishers, but it was ridiculous in this book. Since it is a relatively new book, I suggest that interested readers wait until a possible second edition is published.

Typos aside, I also took issue with some grammatical issues. That is probably only a personal issue, though.

I do wish, too, that Smith had more organizing principles for each chapter. For the most part the book follows chronology, but the latter half of some chapters take on a life of their own, expanding on or simply following up in an almost tangent on something that came up during the telling of the story. There's nothing wrong with that, but the chapters are only given numbers and no other indication of what dictated the organization. This is especially frustrating when Smith sometimes seems to repeat himself, giving the same information in a later chapter that he already provided in an earlier chapter.

Clearly I'm very technique-focused. I don't think that we can deny that style greatly affects reception of the content. But, I do think this book is, on the whole, very well done. Lots of interviews with Mandela's family and with his living colleagues, as well as lots of research, clearly informs the writing of this book. Reading the words of those that Smith interviewed is very fascinating all on its own and enough to recommend the book.(less)

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Jan 01, 2011 Andrew Backs rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

Young Mandela is an exhaustive book about the details of the young life of South African leader Nelson Mandela. The book has been a little difficult to get through because of its plodding pace and extensive details. You can tell while reading that the author must have spent hours and hours doing research before producing a final product. There are references and cross-references for numerous details of Mandela's life. There is a good balance of political and personal information that really allo...more

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Apr 05, 2011 Beth rated it 3 of 5 stars

As other reviewers noted, this is a book of serious research and I perhaps needed an abbreviated version. Mandela is an extraordinary human both in the manner in which he freed himself to experience and learn and pursue beliefs into happenings. He sure learned from his mistakes and kept trying. I have been to the Apartheid Museum and places in & around Johannesburg including Soweto. That visit was a strong lesson in how conditions were for blacks during the era in this book. Every part of th...more

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Jan 12, 2011 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: arc-edition, first-reads, history-biography-memoir

The story of Nelson Mandela as a young man is fascinating. Most of us have a vision of him later in his life, after finally being released from prison, after becoming president of South Africa. This book is the story of his younger life, his burgeoning political life, his change from a non-violent approach to militancy. The book ends around the time he was sentenced to life imprisonment. It was interesting to read about the different factions, about the role of communism in the uprisings, and ra...more

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Jan 01, 2011 Barbara rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads-favorites, biography, south-africa, 20th-century, published-in-2010, in-africa, read-in-2010, history, non-fiction, reviewed

I finished reading Young Mandela: The Revolutionary Years, by David James Smith, and I loved it, but there was so much information in this book including ALL of the people who worked along with Mr. Mandela that at times my head would start spinning while reading this. I learned so much about Nelson Mandela, beginning with his childhood and all through his revolutionary years, and I also learned a great deal about South Africa during the first half of the 20th Century (actually, up until around 1...more I finished reading Young Mandela: The Revolutionary Years, by David James Smith, and I loved it, but there was so much information in this book including ALL of the people who worked along with Mr. Mandela that at times my head would start spinning while reading this. I learned so much about Nelson Mandela, beginning with his childhood and all through his revolutionary years, and I also learned a great deal about South Africa during the first half of the 20th Century (actually, up until around 1964.) In addition, Mandela had traveled around the African continent prior to his imprisonment, and I learned some fascinating things about some of the other African nations. Most importantly, I learned of the struggle and sacrifice of Mr. Mandela, and the importance of really believing in a cause (and, in this case, a very worthy cause -- the abolishment of apartheid in South Africa.) It's really an amazing and extremely inspiring story, which I would recommend to everyone.

It took me a long time to read this book, probably due to the fact that I'm not the fastest reader in the world, but also because David James Smith really fills up every one of the 362 (or so) pages with tons and tons of detailed information about Mandela's life prior to his arrest in 1962 which led to 27 years of imprisonment. It was fascinating to learn so much about Nelson Mandela, the man (as opposed to "the hero" or "the icon" or "the President.") I've learned quite a lot about his relationships with his first two wifes, Evelyn and Winnie, and his children from both marriages. It seems that his dedication to his cause and all of the work he did to abolish apartheid really took quite a toll on his family.

I have always known Nelson Mandela as a man who has accomplished more than would seem possible for one person to do, and he definitely is one of the most important people of all time, but it's nice to see his "human" side as well -- that he actually has flaws and faults.

David James Smith shares so many stories which inform the reader of exactly what apartheid really meant and really felt like for Africans during that time. I think it's so important for people who truly do not understand what discrimination or segregation feels like to read this book in order to get a better insight on what it would be like. This biography is so inspiring because so many people would have just said "OK, there is nothing we can do about this, so let's just accept things as they are," but Mandela and his many supporters refused to accept the horrible way that Africans were treated in their own country. (Let alone the fact that no human being should be treated differently than other human beings, whether in their own country or not.) Mandela and his supporters really put their lives on the line and stood up for what they believed in.

This book really meant so much to me, and I'm so happy to have had an opportunity to read about and learn so much about a truly amazing man, and to discover how "real" and "human" he is.

Thank you to Literanista and The Hachette Book Group, and thank you to Goodreads for choosing me as a First Reads winner of this very interesting and important book. I enjoyed it so much.

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Jan 20, 2011 Trudi rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I knew very little about Mandela's life - especially his early life as a revolutionary; so I found this informative. I guess I never realized how militant he was and how much he embraced violence during his struggle to free his people. And his family (wives and children) made great sacrifices as a result of Mandela's position. The book definitely showed the evils of apartheid.

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Oct 20, 2012 Suzanne Mordue rated it 1 of 5 stars

Very disappointing as so repetitive with a lot of unnecessary detail. I felt that this has been badly edited. there were constant shifts in time, yet always ending up at the same 10 year time period, which made it feel that you were re-visiting the same information; rather than building on what had come before. I couldn't finish it.

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Aug 21, 2011 Sarah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: biography, south-africa, arc, history, non-fiction

Like a lot of people in my generation I know Nelson Mandela solely as the legend, the peaceful elder statesman, the first black President of South Africa, but I know almost nothing of who his was before his release from decades in prison. David James Smith not only shows who this younger version of Mandela was, but he does so without leaving out anything, giving us a nuanced portrait of Mandela the man, not just Mandela the hero. Really the only problem about this book is that because it is so d...more

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Mar 30, 2013 Stuart Elliott rated it 4 of 5 stars

This biography covers Nelson Mandela's early years up to his imprisonment in 1964. Smith's discussion of Mandela's private life seems to depend too much on suppositions and speculation. What is interesting to me is the ANC's move from non-violence to armed struggle and the close, working relationship between the ANC (African National Congress) and the South African Communist Party.

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May 06, 2012 Dillon rated it 5 of 5 stars

Not exactly readable, but gives a true, honest depiction of Mandela before the Rivonia trial, shedding light on his not-so-perfect side.

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Jan 03, 2011 Ann rated it 5 of 5 stars

profound, poignant, inspiring. I learned so much about Mandela and about South Africa.

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Apr 21, 2011 Neil Mudde rated it 1 of 5 stars

Far too complicated and the print is way too small to read, so I gave up on it.

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Oct 08, 2011 Richard H. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction

NON-FICTION

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Nov 11, 2011 Amblingbooks.com marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: available-on-audio, biography, audiobook

"Praise for David James Smith's Supper with the Crippens: "Smith gives a superb psychological insight into a man who was thought to be inscrutable and inexpressive�Smith's impartial journalistic eye gives a balanced account of the events, untouched by the hyperbole so prevalent in many contemporary accounts."�Herald

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Aug 21, 2012 Travis Ferrell rated it 4 of 5 stars

An excellent introductory history to Nelson Mandela's life. I learned a great deal about apartheid and the fight against it. I’m very much looking forward to reading “Long Walk to Freedom” to compare narratives. Highly recommended. It is hard to imagine that such a thing ever happened in the world.
This book is neither muckraking nor hagiography. An honest attempt at a nuanced and de-mythologized understanding of Mandela’s life, times, and work.

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Nov 30, 2010 Jayne marked it as to-read

GR/First Reads win- Nov 2010- awaiting delivery
Received 11/29

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Apr 18, 2012 Rebecca Budd rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, biography, on-the-road, politics, walking-with

David James Smith brought a legend to life by allowing us to see his humanity. Although we view Nelson Mandela in the leadership role, there were many involved in the struggle for freedom. Freedom, as an idea is greater than one person - it belongs to a global world.

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Mar 04, 2011 Shanna marked it as partially-read

Shelves: first-reads-arcs, non-fiction, own

This book is intimidating me. I skimmed through it and read a little bit, and it seems like a book for someone who is truly interested in Mandela - not someone who wants to read it casually for fun, like me.

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Dec 05, 2010 Anne marked it as to-read

Shelves: first-reads

Just received my First-Reads copy of this book, and looking forward to reading it! Thanks Goodreads and Hachette..

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Apr 16, 2012 Mkrone rated it 3 of 5 stars

The writing was weird but the story is worth knowing. It's so interesting to learn the good and the bad of someone's role models.

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May 20, 2013 Misty marked it as to-read

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May 14, 2013 Belle rated it 3 of 5 stars

May 10, 2013 Danijel marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Apr 23, 2013 Dianne Landry marked it as to-read

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Apr 16, 2013 Gladyse Kemunto marked it as to-read

Apr 13, 2013 Corien Tiemersma rated it 5 of 5 stars

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About David James Smith

David James Smith was born in south London in 1956 and has been a journalist all of his work life. He wrote for the monthly magazine Esquire before joining the Sunday Times Magazine. He is the author of The Sleep of Reason, All About Jill, and Supper with the Crippens. He lives in Lewes, East Sussex.

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Books by David James Smith

Supper with the Crippens: A New Investigation into One of the Most Notorious Domestic Murders in History

Fatal Innocence: The Crime That Shocked The World The Story Of Two British Ten Year Old Killers And Their Three Year Old Victim

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