"As a defender of social justice and champion of equal rights for South African blacks, Nelson Mandela is a world-renowned leader and a symbol of the movement against apartheid. This unique biography tells of Mandela's early years through the age of twenty-three - his upbringing and education, the rituals of tribal Africa and his right-of-passage ceremony, the early death of his father and his subsequent move to the home of the Paramount Chief, the Regent who became his adoptive father.".

"Here is the story of a boy who was destined for something larger than his tribal village, a boy who could not contain his wonder and curiosity about the world beyond the familiar. Even at the expense of disobeying the Regent, he fled with his adoptive brother to the capital city of Johannesburg to find work and see the world, meeting many influential people along the way.".

"The circumstances of Mandela's youth led him to a perpetual search for what is right and true, in constant pursuit of fairness and recognition for the colorful, valiant history and tradition of black South Africans."--BOOK JACKET.