Special thanks to the Mandela Foundation. To find out more about the life of Nelson Mandela, visit NelsonMandela.org.

In 1993, after 27 years of imprisonment, Nelson Mandela sat down with ghostwriter Richard Stengel to begin working on Long Walk to Freedom, a critically acclaimed memoir that would become a best seller around the globe.

Mandela: The Lost Tapes reveals never-before-heard audio from Stengel’s interviews with the Nobel Prize winner, freedom fighter, and former South African president. Hours of rare recordings detail the turning points of Mandela’s life, key moments that shaped a revolution and the man who was to bring freedom to his nation.

In this Audible Original, Stengel relives his intimate chats with Mandela, attempting to answer the questions ‘What made Nelson Mandela who he is?’ and ‘How can the rest of us be more like him?’

In Stengel’s own words: “It’s partly the story about how Mandela and I wrote his memoir Long Walk to Freedom. But much more than that, it’s a story about our unusual friendship, my struggle to learn who Mandela really was, and my quest to understand what makes a human being great.”

Mandela: The Lost Tapes provides an intimate look at who Nelson Mandela was beyond his carefully curated public persona. Through Mandela’s own words, he reveals his extraordinary journey to becoming one of the greatest leaders in modern history.

Nelson Mandela, the most hunted fugitive in South Africa, is captured. 30 years later, the most famous prisoner in the world, is released.

After South African police step up their violent attacks against protestors, Mandela launches a guerrilla movement.

Mandela travels across Africa for military training—but he experiences a life-altering betrayal when he returns.

With the whole world watching, Mandela confronts the apartheid government in court.

Mandela is sentenced to South Africa’s Alcatraz—but discovers unexpected ways to continue the struggle.

Mandela’s boyhood in the Transkei—where he was adopted and raised by a king—shaped the freedom fighter he became.

Mandela meets the love of his life, Winnie—but the apartheid government conspires to keep them apart.