This book explores Nelson Mandela's personal development as well as his public activism, from his childhood as a member of the Thembu royal house through his emergence in the 1950s as a nationalist celebrity, his martyrdom in prison and, finally, his contemporary canonization as a transnational icon of liberal democracy. Though primarily a political biography which will concern itself with Mandela's role as an historical actor, this book also looks at the effects of political myth. Tom Lodge explores the different ways in which Nelson Mandela's life has been interpreted and the effects of his leadership on the making of modern South Africa, and, more generally, his importance as an exemplary modern day hero.