This book contains the first publication of original material by Mandela, including prison writings which were discovered earlier in 2006, and is illustrated with more than 250 photographs and other images sourced from the Nelson Mandela Foundation. An extensive 40,000 word narrative tells the story of his life, supplemented by interviews with over 60 of the world's most significant political figures, business and campaigning figures, fellow South Africans, sporting, literary and musical celebrities.

These interviews focus on specific areas of Mandela's life and work, and his influence on the interiewees, who include Tony Blair, Bono, Bill Clinton, Bob Hughes, Lord Kinnock, Muhammad Ali, Kofi Annan, Sir Richard Branson, Andre Brink, George Soros, Sir Sidney Poitier, Fergal Keane, President Mbeki, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Judge Albie Sachs, Gillian Slovo, Helen Suzman, Nadine Gordimer, Lord Healey, Lord Attenborough, Cyril Ramaphosa, Helen Suzman, Baroness Boothroyd and Stevie Wonder.