Nelson Mandela opened his archives for Conversations With Myself, composed of long sequences with snippets from interviews, journal entries, essays and an unpublished prison memoir. The swatches of words, which are of varying interest, help round out our understanding of the regal figure whose lifelong battle transformed South Africa from white minority rule to multiracial democracy. The many revealing passages include his thoughts on nonviolence, a concept he was OK with while willing to “use other means” when pacifism failed. On a less serious note, who would suspect that Mandela often interjects “Gee, whiz” into his conversations?
