Without much fanfare Ahmed Kathrada worked alongside Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and other giants in the struggle to end racial discrimination in South Africa. He faced house arrest and many court trials related to his activism until, finally, a trial for sabotage saw him sentenced to life imprisonment alongside Mandela and six others.

Conversations with a Gentle Soul has its origins in a series of discussions between Kathrada and Sahm Venter about his opinions, encounters and experiences. Throughout his life, Kathrada has refused to hang on to negative emotions such as hatred and bitterness. Instead, he radiates contentment and the openness of a man at peace with himself. His wisdom is packaged within layers of optimism, mischievousness and humour, and he provides insights that are of value to all South Africans.

This riveting memoir, spanning the history of modern South Africa, sheds new light on the struggle against apartheid as it tells the moving and insightful story of a man who served among a loyal cadre of the African National Congress and helped in shaping his country's history.

On a freezing winter's night, a few hours before dawn on May 12, 1969, South African security police stormed the Soweto home of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, activist and wife of the imprisoned Nelson Mandela, and arrested her in the presence of her two young daughters, then aged nine and ten. Rounded up in a group of other antiapartheid activists under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act, designed for the security police to hold and interrogate people for as long as they wanted, she was taken away. She had no idea where they were taking her or what would happen to her children. For Winnie Mandela, this was the start of 491 days of detention and two trials. Forty-one years after Winnie Mandela's release on September 14, 1970, Greta Soggot, the widow of one of the defense attorneys from the 1969?-70 trials, handed her a stack of papers that included a journal and notes she had written while in detention, most of the time in solitary confinement. Their reappearance brought back to Winnie vivid and horrifying memories and uncovered for the rest of us a unique and personal slice of South Africa's history. 491 Days: Prisoner number 1323/69 shares with the world Winnie Mandela's moving and compelling journal along with some of the letters written between several affected parties at the time, including Winnie and Nelson Mandela, himself then a prisoner on Robben Island for nearly seven years. Readers will gain insight into the brutality she experienced and her depths of despair, as well as her resilience and defiance under extreme pressure. This young wife and mother emerged after 491 days in detention unbowed and determined to continue the struggle for freedom.

In the first three months of 1976, during his imprisonment on Robben Island, Nelson Mandela wrote the bulk of his autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom". This was an illegal act, and the manuscript had to be smuggled out by fellow prisoner Mac Maharaj on his release that year. Maharaj used the opportunity to ask Mandela and other political prisoners to write essays about South Africa's political future. These were smuggled out with Mandela's autobiography, and are published, 25 years later, in this book.
These essays provide a "snapshot" of the thinking of Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and other prominent Robben Island prisoners before the 1976 Soweto uprising changed the face of politics in South Africa. As such they provide an insight into our history. Each essay is preceded by a biographical introduction and a sketch of the author specially commissioned for this volume.

On a freezing winter's night, a few hours before dawn on May 12, 1969, South African security police stormed the Soweto home of Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, activist and wife of the imprisoned Nelson Mandela, and arrested her in the presence of her two young daughters, then aged nine and ten. Rounded up in a group of other antiapartheid activists under Section 6 of the Terrorism Act, designed for the security police to hold and interrogate people for as long as they wanted, she was taken away. She had no idea where they were taking her or what would happen to her children. For Winnie Mandela, this was the start of 491 days of detention and two trials. Forty-one years after Winnie Mandela's release on September 14, 1970, Greta Soggot, the widow of one of the defense attorneys from the 1969?-70 trials, handed her a stack of papers that included a journal and notes she had written while in detention, most of the time in solitary confinement. Their reappearance brought back to Winnie vivid and horrifying memories and uncovered for the rest of us a unique and personal slice of South Africa's history. 491 Days: Prisoner number 1323/69 shares with the world Winnie Mandela's moving and compelling journal along with some of the letters written between several affected parties at the time, including Winnie and Nelson Mandela, himself then a prisoner on Robben Island for nearly seven years. Readers will gain insight into the brutality she experienced and her depths of despair, as well as her resilience and defiance under extreme pressure. This young wife and mother emerged after 491 days in detention unbowed and determined to continue the struggle for freedom.

Ahmed Kathrada's autobiography is a moving, touching and often amusing read about a man who not only observed, but also actively participated in the shaping of a country's history. Born a shopkeeper's son in the rural town of Schweizer-Reneke, he became the trusted confidante of some of the most prominent political figures in South Africa's struggle history, among them Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. Politically active at the age of 10, and joining the Young Communists' League at 14, Kathrada – or 'Kathy', as friends and family affectionately called him – devoted his life to the freedom struggle in South Africa. Persecuted, driven underground and sentenced to life imprisonment at the Rivonia Trial, Kathrada spent 18 years on Robben Island, where he grew close to both Mandela and Sisulu, whom he regarded as a second father. On the island, in his tiny garden patch, Kathrada buried the original draft of Mandela's autobiography, until such time it could be smuggled to London. Having lived side by side with men who shaped the history of this country and assumed positions of power, Kathrada himself remained humble. Eventually released from prison after 26 years, he eschewed a cabinet post, instead opting to oversee the Robben Island Museum project. In this title, truly a collection of memoirs, he affords us rare glimpses into his and other activists' lives during the struggle and imprisonment, and sketches poignant cameos of those who would become South Africa's post-apartheid leaders.

Sentenced to life imprisonment at the Rivonia Trial in 1964, Ahmed Kathrada spent eighteen years on Robben Island and a further seven in Pollsmoor Prison with, among others, Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. During his incarceration he secretly jotted down quotations which he came across and liked: proverbs, aphorisms, poetry and drama extracts, and passages from books, magazines and newspapers. On Robben Island these quotations were like familiar friends. They helped steel the soul within the stolen body – the authorities might control that body but they could not lock up the mind. A journey which reveals how this remarkable and modest man was able to maintain his dignity and freedom of mind while all other liberty was denied him.