Books on Africa, the Liberation Struggle, U.S. Policy, Corporate Involvement and the International Solidarity Movement


The following books and be ordered in the U.S. from amazon.com by clicking on the link.  Some books are out of print but still may be available new or used. I hope to add more titles in the future. Many of these titles are also available in libraries.

Artists United Against Apartheid, Sun City: The Struggle for Freedom in South Africa (Viking Penguin, 1985) ISBN: 0140089977 This is the companion to the Sun City album and video that were produced by Artists United Against Apartheid as part of the cultural boycott of apartheid South Africa.  See also Little Steven's Sun City album web page.

Cortright, David and George A. Lopez (editors), Economic Sanctions: Panacea or Peacebuilding in a Post-Cold War World? (Westview Press, 1995)  ISBN: 0813389097.  Includes one chapter on South Africa "Sanctions and Apartheid: The Economic Challenge to Discrimination" by Jennifer Davis

Culverson, Donald R, Contesting Apartheid: U.S. Activism, 1960-1987 (Westview Press, 1999) ISBN: 0813366690

Denenberg, Barry, Nelson Mandela: No Easy Walk to Freedom (Scholastic; Reprint edition, 1991) ISBN: 059044154X

El-Khawas, Mohamed and Barry Cohen (editors), The Kissinger Study of Southern Africa: National Security Study Memorandum 39 Preface by Edgar Lockwood. (Lawrence Hill & Company, 1976) ISBN 0882080725 This book contains the complete text of NSSM 39, a classified study of Southern Africa and U.S. policy ordered by Henry Kissinger in 1969.  At that time Portugal still colonized Angola and Mozambique, Ian Smith ruled in Rhodesia, Namibia was occupied by South Africa and the apartheid regime reined in South Africa. There were active liberation movements in these countries.  NSSM 39 was revealed by Tad Szulc and Jack Anderson in the fall of 1974.  This study helped lay the basis for U.S. policy for decades despite changes forced by events.  The U.S. government consistently opposed the liberations movements and launched a major CIA operation in Angola.

Edgar, Robert (editor), Sanctioning Apartheid (Africa World Press, 1990) ISBN 0865431639 This useful book contains chapters from eighteen U.S. and European anti-apartheid activists, including Gay MacDougall, Richard Knight, Roger Riddell and Jaap Woldendorp on a wide variety of topics including sanctions, divestment, the oil embargo, the cultural boycott and the implementation of the Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986.

Goodman, David, Fault Lines: Journeys into the New South Africa (University of California Press, 1999) ISBN: 0520232038

Hengeveld, Richard and Jaap Rodenburg, Embargo: Apartheid's Oil Secrets Revealed with an introduction by Nelson Mandela (Amsterdam University Press, 1995) ISBN 9053561358

Hirsch, Alan, Season of Hope: Economic Reform Under Mandela And Mbeki (University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2005) (Paperback) This is an extremely useful book. In discussing the challenges the Mandela government faced when it came to power Hirsch writes: "The spectre of a shrinking economy imposed a terrifying parameter on the new government the task of the new government was to bring the golden goose to health and simultaneously to meet the legitimate expectations of the newly enfranchised majority." The author is currently Chief Director of Economic Policy in the Presidency, South Africa. He previously served in the Department of Trade and Industry and before 1994 as an advisory to the ANC.

Houser, George, No One Can Stop the Rain: Glimpses of Africa's Liberation Struggle (Pligrim Press, 1989) ISBN: 0829807950 George Houser was a founder of Americans for South African Resistance in 1952 which led to the formation of the American Committee on Africa (ACOA).  He was Executive Director of ACOA from 1954 until mid-1981.

International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa, Apartheid: The Facts, (International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa, 1983) ISBN 0904759490 A very useful and detailed source on apartheid. 

International Defence & Aid Fund for Southern Africa, Apartheid: The Facts, (International Defence and Aid Fund for Southern Africa, 1991) ISBN 1871863120.  A revised edition, also very useful.

Leonard, Richard, South Africa at War: White Power and the Crisis in Southern Africa (Lawrence Hill, 1983) ASIN: 0882081098

Love, Janice, The United States Anti-Apartheid Movement: Local Activism in Global Politics (Praeger Publishers, 1985) ISBN 0275901394

Luthuli, Albert, Let My People Go: The Autobiography of Albert Luthuli (New American Library, 2000). ASIN: 0452004047 This book was originally published in 1962. The author was President of the African National Congress from 1952 until his death in 1967. The ANC was banned in 1960. In 1961 be won the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mandela, Nelson, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela (Back Bay Books, 1995) ISBN: 0316548189

Massie, Robert Kinlock, Loosing the Bonds: The United States and South Africa in the Apartheid Years
(Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 1997) ISBN 0385261675


No Easy Victories: African Liberation and American Activists over a Half-Century, 1950-2000 edited by edited by William Minter, Gail Hovey and Charles Cobb (Africa World Press, 2007). This book provides a panoramic view of U.S. activism on Africa from 1950 to 2000.

NARMIC/American Friends Service Committee, Automating Apartheid: U.S. Computer Exports to South Africa and the Arms Embargo (NARMIC/America Friends Service Committee;1982) ASIN: 0910082006

Richards, Trevor, Dancing on Our Bones: New Zealand, South Africa, Rugby and Racism (Bridget Williams Books, 1999) ASIN: 1877242004 Leading anti-apartheid campaigner Trevor Richards has written a history of New Zealand's contribution to the fight against apartheid in South Africa. He was a major player in Halt All Racist Tours (HART). In 1980 HART merged with the National Anti-Apartheid Movement becoming HART:NZAAM. The primary focus of their work was to oppose rugby sporting links between New Zealand and South Africa. "In the 56 days that the 1981 Springboks rugby team was in New Zealand, there were more than 200 demonstrations in 28 centres involving in excess of 150,000 people," notes one reviewer.

Seidman, Ann & Neva Seidman Makgetla, Outposts of Monopoly Capitalism: Southern Africa in the Changing Global Economy (Zed Press, 1980) ISBN 0862320151 Includes information on the involvement of transnational corporations investing in South Africa.


South African History Archive, Images of Defiance: South African Resistance Posters of the 1980s (Ravan Press, 1992) ISBN: 0869754211

Stockwell, John, In Search of Enemies: A CIA Story (W. W. Norton & Company, 1978) ISBN 0393057054. 
This book by the former chief of the CIA Angola Task Force is about U.S. involvement Angola. 

Western Massachusetts Association of Concerned African Scholars (editor) U.S. Military Involvement on Southern Africa (South End Press, 1978) ISBN 0896080412

The Road to Democracy, Vol. 1, 1960-1970 (Zebra Press, 2004) Produced by South African Democracy Education Trust. ISBN 1868729060 This is the first of a projected five volumes.  You can order it from Amazon at the above link. If you live in South Africa, you can order it from Exclusive Books. 
"The road to democracy is a five-volume work that aims to redress the lack of historical material on the events that led to democracy in South Africa over a period of four decades. In Volume 1, which covers the years between 1960 and 1970, a dedicated and experienced team of researchers unravels and analyses events that would eventually lead to a negotiated settlement, focusing specifically on: the Sharpeville and Langa massacres as a turning point in the struggle; the banning of liberation movements and the imprisonment of struggle activists; the measures taken by the apartheid state to suppress resistance; the underground activities of, among others, the ANC and PAC; the decision to resort to armed resistance; life in exile for political activists; and the activities of mainly white activists in above-ground organisations. Volume 1 provides new insight into how anti-apartheid movements operated in the 1960s - a decade generally known as 'the golden age of apartheid' - drawing on previously unexploited documentary sources, such as trial records and state archives, as well as the archives of the liberation movements."  Exclusive Books


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