Nelson Mandela: The Illustrated Long Walk to Freedom

By MARGIE THOMSON

For those who were daunted by the 700-plus pages of the original Long Walk to Freedom, this will be a welcome advent.

It's an abridged version of the autobiography Mandela wrote while still a prisoner on Robben Island, only this time supplemented by many photos capturing the physical and social landscape of South Africa from the early 20th century - Mandela was born in 1918 in a tiny village in the Transkei - to that day in 1994 when black South Africans went to the polls for the first time and elected Mandela president over what was optimistically hoped to be a democratic, multi-racial society.

South Africa's path forward since has not been easy, but Mandela's story and the wider struggle it embodies remains inspirational and important.

Abridged as it is, this does not have the feeling of having been dumbed down. The text is still laden with detail and emotion, but the format will certainly make it more accessible to readers with a general interest in Mandela and the fight to overcome apartheid.

Little, Brown

$49.95