No Bread for Mandela allows us to enter into the life of Ahmed "Kathy" Kathrada, a very humble yet very real hero, whose steadfast adherence to the highest ideals helped alter the future of a nation. Ahmed Kathrada played a pivotal role in ending apartheid, helping his country choose a path of reconciliation instead of revenge, and building a new democracy.This book offers snapshots of his unusual life: An Indian, Muslim South African, Kathy became politically involved at the age of 10 and his activism continued despite repeated arrests, detentions, and bannings as well as increasingly severe measures by the Apartheid government. In 1964, he was convicted of sabotage and sentenced to life imprisonment, alongside Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and the other Rivonia Trialists. Fellow prisoners for 26 years, these leaders were also the closest colleagues and friends, sharing the unshakable belief that truth, justice and democracy would ultimately triumph over oppression and racism.Released from prison in 1989 at the age of 60, Ahmed Kathrada was at the center of dramatic changes in South Africa and went on to serve as a member of South Africa's first freely elected Parliament, as the Parliamentary Counsellor to the Office of President Mandela, and Chair of the Robben Island Museum.He is proof that human beings are capable of exceptional goodness even in the most difficult circumstances, and that political power can be wielded with integrity, empathy, and compassion. He also possesses a wonderful sense of humor as well as unique insight into his close friends and colleagues, including Nelson Mandela.Ahmed Kathrada's memoir offers an essential and all-too-rare view into the mind and soul of a truly great and profoundly gentle revolutionary.