From Protest to Challenge: A Documentary History of African Politics in South Africa, 1882-1990, Vol. 5, Nadir and Resurgence, 1964-1979
Reviewed by Harvey Glickman
The overthrow of apartheid in South Africa permits an interpretive change in the thrust of African resistance politics by the editors and authors of this invaluable documentary history. What began in 1972 as an effort to preserve a transient record of African resistance to political oppression, from its nineteenth-century origins to its apparently stalled condition in the mid-1960s, can now offer a detailed account of an epic story in our time. The text, which takes up half the volume, is organized into thematic essays written by the volume editors, who are well-known scholars of South African political history. Included is an essay on trade unions by labor expert David Lewis. This volume covers the period from the trial and imprisonment of Nelson Mandela to the government crackdown after the 1976 Soweto uprising. The authors survey movements and groups both cooperating and competing with the African National Congress. The unofficial documentary records -- interviews, a diary, prison memos, handbills -- are a fascinating glimpse into a large collection available on microfilm.
