
The Barrel of a Gun
Political Power in Africa and the Coup d'Etat
Ruth First(Author)
Verso Books (Publisher)
Will be published approx. on 18. August 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
544 pages
978-1-80429-944-9 (ISBN)
Description
A committed communist and anti-apartheid activist, Ruth First dedicated her life to African liberation struggles until her assas-sination by South Africa's Special Branch in 1982. The Barrel of a Gun establishes First's position in the canon of post-colonial revolutionary thought.
Reviews / Votes
In her cruelly abbreviated life, Ruth First courageously grappled with a range of political conditions and mentalities. In The Barrel of a Gun, she transmuted her intimate experience of political adversity into lucid and unsparing insight into postcolonial realities and possibilities. No one interested in the past, present or future of Asia and Africa can afford to miss reading it. -- Pankaj Mishra, author of <i>The World After Gaza</i> Is history repeating itself in Africa, first at the level of tragedy and then at the level not of farce, but of tragedy again? Ruth First, who had been through the fires of struggle herself, used her sharp eye, sharp pen, and sharp sense of history to write a trenchant examination of military takeovers in newly independent Africa. Her focus was not so much on the thoughts and ambitions of individual leaders, as on the deficiencies of state that opened the doors to coups. Many sad lessons have not been learnt. A republication of her seminal work could not be more timely. -- Albie Sachs, author of <i>We, the People: Insights of an Activist Judge</i> No one saw authoritarianism as clearly as Ruth First. The Barrel of a Gun is a portrait of the young men in uniform who ruled independent Africa and the dismal ideology they created - militarism. Sharply written and brutally argued, First's book about the coup d'etat is an essential work of political theory. -- Samuel Fury Childs Daly, author of <i>Soldier's Paradise: Militarism in Africa After Empire</i>More details
Series
Edition
Paperback original
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 153 mm
Thickness: 33 mm
Weight
367 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80429-944-9 (9781804299449)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Ruth First was an internationally known anti-apartheid activist who was a member of the South African Communist Party (SACP) and the African National Congress (ANC). In 1982, she was assassinated in Maputo, Mozambique, by a mail bomb sent by the apartheid government.
Christopher J. Lee is a historian who has written or edited thirteen previous books on different aspects of decolonization, global history, and the South African Left. He has held academic appointments at universities in Africa, Asia, and North America. As Co-General Editor, he is currently completing the five-volume Cambridge History of Colonialism and Decolonization.
Christopher J. Lee is a historian who has written or edited thirteen previous books on different aspects of decolonization, global history, and the South African Left. He has held academic appointments at universities in Africa, Asia, and North America. As Co-General Editor, he is currently completing the five-volume Cambridge History of Colonialism and Decolonization.