What do you think?
Rate this book
Let Freedom Reign: The Words of Nelson Mandela
This collection marks the 20th anniversary of Nelson Mandela's release from prison and analyzes the linguistic features, content and context of Mandela's speeches.
- GenresAfrica
136 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 29, 2018
The short version first:
Few people in my lifetime have ever been so recognizable at the nere mention of his name as [Mr. Nelson Mandela|367338], a humanitarian, advocate of peace, and democracy, He surrefer egregiously at the hands of the apartheid, racist regime in his home country of South Africa. Starting in 1948, his voice was the beacon of reason, human rights, humanitarian treatment of prisoners, and a needed move to re-enfranchise the people of South Africa so that all could participate in a government by the people and for the people, all of the people of South Africa.
While others may have had more prestige or coverage, no one was as eloquent as [Mr. Mandela|367338]. No one was as opposed to apartheid, the racist minority, white political leaders of South Africa, than [Mr. Mandela|367338]. For years, [Mr. Mandela, orator, and writer|367338] was incarcerated in prison for his “activitst” and “militant” ways. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Although hw was a peron, who was a member and a leader in the African National Congress (ANC) as well as its militant group advocating some type of action, pspecifically armed action, to take what what rightfully theirs as the majority of the voters in the electorate of the country. His membership in the ANC and the more action-oriented factions called Umkhonto we Sizwe, the militant, armed portion of the ANC. He was accused falsely of supporting a Communist takeover of the South African government, and again [Mr. Mandela|367338] sat records straight about the false allegations of being a Communist.
Once freed from prison, [Mr. Mandela|367338] continued to work toward human freedoms and rights for all who lived, worked, and wanted to be citiziens of South Africa. The majority population was eventually able to help the African National Congress (ANC) to achieve a society that elected a government that was not white or apartheid, leading the way to reforms, more majority involvement in the political process. It was a long time in the making, but eventually [Mr. Mandela|367338] and his ANC party, brought forth the first freely elected majority Congress in South African history. Through it all, [Mr. Mandela|367338] was the voice of calm, reason, and looking towards a nation where all could live and work peacefully, in harmony, and for the betterment of all South Africa and the peoples who called it home. To say that this was populat was an understatement, [Mr. Mandela|367338] was elected to the Presidency of South Africa, where he continued is policies of multial respect, human rights, a place for all to work, live, raise families, and flourish in a South Africa that was for once and for all a peaceful country.
Peacefully to make things better was [Mr. Mandela|367338]’s next challenge. It would take all of his time as President, to just get things started. It would devolve to others to keep the momentum going. Mr. Mandela would provide encouragement once he stepped down from power, but he never lost his eloquence nor his love of his home country.
Thiis work, written by :[Mr. Henry Russell, Editor |29654], is a series of vignettes looking at broad aspects of [Mr. Mandela|367338]’s experiences and efforts to improve the lives of those who lived and worked in one of the countries with rising prestige and accomplishment in human rights. :[Mr. Henry Russell. Editor|29654], provided opening settings setting the time framing [Mr. Mandela|367338]’s words, giving context and sense of the benefit that could be reapt by hearing and believing [Mr. Mandela|367338]’s message. :[Mr. André Brink, foreword author1409320] provided an excellent setting and tribute to the good things that res8lted from the hard work of the ANC lead by [Mr. Mandela|367338].
As [Mr. Mandela|367338] neared retirement age, many wanted to see him continue in the work for which he sacrificed some aspects of his life, including three marriages, and little time at home for wife and famioy. He was awarded a Nobel Peace Pricze along with others from South Africa for their hard work in improving the life and efforts to turn around the white, racist, apartheid regime. This work wend to press shouly before [Mr. Mandela|367338] passed away after a long and full life, with both successes and failures, but never once did [Mr. Mandela|367338] lose his fairth in humanity and in need for peaceful transitions and means of helping keep the people focused on whtat was the best for them all.
Recommendations:
This book provides the reader with a great amount of insight in the time and times of [Mr. Mandela|367338]. It uses his gift or oratory to show his commitment to humanity and improving the human conditions in his own country, South Africa. His work did have a large part in keeping the struggle peaceful and moving forward with clear goals in ideas on how to get the jobs done. This is an inspring look at one of the great humanitarians of all time, [Mr. Nelson Mandela|367338]. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to become inspoired to do the right things by personal actions and the commitments to improve the lot in the lives of all those around us. Who knows, it might just improve all of our outlooks on life, liberty, leading towards that lofty goal of our pursuits of happiness wherever we can find them. One of the best books I have read in a while. It has focused me on doing more for everyone around me. I hope it might do the same for each of you who choose to read this short book about big ideas, and bigger ways to makie things better for us all.
Review of Henry Russell's Let Freedom Reign: The Words of Nelson Mandela by RIchard W. Buro is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7738280-let-freedom-.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at Contact Us" rel="cc:morePermissions">For rights and other pertinent information, please direct your inqueries to Contact Us.
Few people in my lifetime have ever been so recognizable at the nere mention of his name as [Mr. Nelson Mandela|367338], a humanitarian, advocate of peace, and democracy, He surrefer egregiously at the hands of the apartheid, racist regime in his home country of South Africa. Starting in 1948, his voice was the beacon of reason, human rights, humanitarian treatment of prisoners, and a needed move to re-enfranchise the people of South Africa so that all could participate in a government by the people and for the people, all of the people of South Africa.
While others may have had more prestige or coverage, no one was as eloquent as [Mr. Mandela|367338]. No one was as opposed to apartheid, the racist minority, white political leaders of South Africa, than [Mr. Mandela|367338]. For years, [Mr. Mandela, orator, and writer|367338] was incarcerated in prison for his “activitst” and “militant” ways. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Although hw was a peron, who was a member and a leader in the African National Congress (ANC) as well as its militant group advocating some type of action, pspecifically armed action, to take what what rightfully theirs as the majority of the voters in the electorate of the country. His membership in the ANC and the more action-oriented factions called Umkhonto we Sizwe, the militant, armed portion of the ANC. He was accused falsely of supporting a Communist takeover of the South African government, and again [Mr. Mandela|367338] sat records straight about the false allegations of being a Communist.
Once freed from prison, [Mr. Mandela|367338] continued to work toward human freedoms and rights for all who lived, worked, and wanted to be citiziens of South Africa. The majority population was eventually able to help the African National Congress (ANC) to achieve a society that elected a government that was not white or apartheid, leading the way to reforms, more majority involvement in the political process. It was a long time in the making, but eventually [Mr. Mandela|367338] and his ANC party, brought forth the first freely elected majority Congress in South African history. Through it all, [Mr. Mandela|367338] was the voice of calm, reason, and looking towards a nation where all could live and work peacefully, in harmony, and for the betterment of all South Africa and the peoples who called it home. To say that this was populat was an understatement, [Mr. Mandela|367338] was elected to the Presidency of South Africa, where he continued is policies of multial respect, human rights, a place for all to work, live, raise families, and flourish in a South Africa that was for once and for all a peaceful country.
Peacefully to make things better was [Mr. Mandela|367338]’s next challenge. It would take all of his time as President, to just get things started. It would devolve to others to keep the momentum going. Mr. Mandela would provide encouragement once he stepped down from power, but he never lost his eloquence nor his love of his home country.
Thiis work, written by :[Mr. Henry Russell, Editor |29654], is a series of vignettes looking at broad aspects of [Mr. Mandela|367338]’s experiences and efforts to improve the lives of those who lived and worked in one of the countries with rising prestige and accomplishment in human rights. :[Mr. Henry Russell. Editor|29654], provided opening settings setting the time framing [Mr. Mandela|367338]’s words, giving context and sense of the benefit that could be reapt by hearing and believing [Mr. Mandela|367338]’s message. :[Mr. André Brink, foreword author1409320] provided an excellent setting and tribute to the good things that res8lted from the hard work of the ANC lead by [Mr. Mandela|367338].
As [Mr. Mandela|367338] neared retirement age, many wanted to see him continue in the work for which he sacrificed some aspects of his life, including three marriages, and little time at home for wife and famioy. He was awarded a Nobel Peace Pricze along with others from South Africa for their hard work in improving the life and efforts to turn around the white, racist, apartheid regime. This work wend to press shouly before [Mr. Mandela|367338] passed away after a long and full life, with both successes and failures, but never once did [Mr. Mandela|367338] lose his fairth in humanity and in need for peaceful transitions and means of helping keep the people focused on whtat was the best for them all.
Recommendations:
This book provides the reader with a great amount of insight in the time and times of [Mr. Mandela|367338]. It uses his gift or oratory to show his commitment to humanity and improving the human conditions in his own country, South Africa. His work did have a large part in keeping the struggle peaceful and moving forward with clear goals in ideas on how to get the jobs done. This is an inspring look at one of the great humanitarians of all time, [Mr. Nelson Mandela|367338]. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to become inspoired to do the right things by personal actions and the commitments to improve the lot in the lives of all those around us. Who knows, it might just improve all of our outlooks on life, liberty, leading towards that lofty goal of our pursuits of happiness wherever we can find them. One of the best books I have read in a while. It has focused me on doing more for everyone around me. I hope it might do the same for each of you who choose to read this short book about big ideas, and bigger ways to makie things better for us all.
Review of Henry Russell's Let Freedom Reign: The Words of Nelson Mandela by RIchard W. Buro is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7738280-let-freedom-.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at Contact Us" rel="cc:morePermissions">For rights and other pertinent information, please direct your inqueries to Contact Us.
June 1, 2025
Poorly edited and selected and mediocre commentary. I imagine there has to be a better compilation of Mandela's speeches.
Read
June 1, 2013It is embarrassing to me that I have not finished this, but it needed t be returned to the library and I was not making any head way. I think the most interesting thing about the book is the commentary at the beginning of each speech, giving perspective and an insight that just reading the speeches out of context would not provide.
That being said, I think 'A Long Walk to Freedom' by Nelson Mandela himself, while really long is more insightful
That being said, I think 'A Long Walk to Freedom' by Nelson Mandela himself, while really long is more insightful
July 16, 2014
This book was unique because it was a compilation of Nelson Mandela's own words within some historical context. It was a great way to learn the character and growth of such an influential leader. I definitely recommend this quick read book.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews