In September 1958, Guinea claimed its independence, rejecting a constitution that would have relegated it to junior partnership in the French Community. In all the French empire, Guinea was the only territory to vote "No." Orchestrating the "No" vote was the Guinean branch of the Rassemblement Democratique Africain (RDA), an alliance of political parties with affiliates in French West and Equatorial Africa and the United Nations trusts of Togo and Cameroon. Although Guinea's stance vis-a-vis the 1958 constitution has been recognized as unique, until now the historical roots of this phenomenon have not been adequately explained.
Clearly written and free of jargon, "Cold War and Decolonization in Guinea" argues that Guinea's vote for independence was the culmination of a decade-long struggle between local militants and political leaders for control of the political agenda. Since 1950, when RDA representatives in the French parliament severed their ties to the French Communist Party, conservative elements had dominated the RDA. In Guinea, local cadres had opposed the break. Victimized by the administration and sidelined by their own leaders, they quietly rebuilt the party from the base. Leftist militants, their voices muted throughout most of the decade, gained preeminence in 1958, when trade unionists, students, the party's women's and youth wings, and other grassroots actors pushed the Guinean RDA to endorse a "No" vote. Thus, Guinea's rejection of the proposed constitution in favor of immediate independence was not an isolated aberration. Rather, it was the outcome of years of political mobilization by activists who, despite Cold War repression, ultimately pushed the Guinean RDA tothe left.
The significance of this highly original book, based on previously unexamined archival records and oral interviews with grassroots activists, extends far beyond its primary subject. In illuminating the Guinean case, Elizabeth Schmidt helps us understand the dynamics of decolonization and its legacy for postindependence nation-building in many parts of the developing world.
Examining Guinean history from the bottom up, Schmidt considers local politics within the larger context of the Cold War, making her book suitable for courses in African history and politics, diplomatic history, and Cold War history.

Divided by the Word refutes the assumption that the entrenched ethnic divide between South Africa’s Zulus and Xhosas, a divide that turned deadly in the late 1980s, is elemental to both societies. Jochen Arndt reveals how the current distinction between the two groups emerged from a long and complex interplay of indigenous and foreign born actors, with often diverging ambitions and relationships to the world they shared and the languages they spoke.

The earliest roots of the divide lie in the eras of exploration and colonization, when European officials and naturalists classified South Africa’s indigenous population on the basis of skin color and language. Later, missionaries collaborated with African intermediaries to translate the Bible into the region’s vernaculars, artificially creating distinctions between Zulu and Xhosa speakers. By the twentieth century, these foreign players, along with African intellectuals, designed language-education programs that embedded the Zulu-Xhosa divide in South African consciousness.

Using archival sources from three continents written in multiple languages, Divided by the Word offers a refreshingly new appreciation for the deep historicity of language and ethnic identity in South Africa, while reconstructing the ways in which colonial forces generate and impose ethnic divides with long-lasting and lethal consequences for indigenous populations.

Daar bestaan min twyfel dat die mense wat die Anglo-Boereoorlog en die naoorlogse tydperk beleef het, veelbewoe maar ook avontuurlike jare meegemaak het. Aan die heldetydvak kan Johanna Brandt se naam gekoppel word. Sy was 'n merkwaardige vrou, besonder intelligent en met sterk leierseienskappe en buitengewone energie. Sy het haarself gesien as lid van die "aristokrasie van die volk". Gedurende die Anglo-Boereoorlog word sy betrek in die spioenasienetwerk van die Transvaalse geheime diens en haar woning word 'n skuilplek vir boerespioene. Vir 'n tyd lank is sy ook kampverpleegster in die Irene-konsentrasiekamp. Na die oorlog neem sy as predikantsvrou 'n leidende rol in die opheffing van die verarmde Boerevrouens en help bou aan die geestelike vorming van 'n nasionale bewussyn en die emansipasie van die vrou. In later jare geniet sy groot bekendheid as die skryfster van Het concentratie-kamp van Irene (1905), The Petticoat Commando (1913) en Die Kappie Kommando (1913). Hierdie studie handel in hoofsaak oor Johanna se wedervaringe in haar twintigerjare, alhoewel sy byna 88 jaar oud geword het.

With the summer of 2012 marking half a century of independence for Algeria, the Algerian War has been brought into discussions in France once more, where parallels between the past and present are revealed. This analysis takes an in-depth look at the war from 1954 to 1962 and the response from the French left. Drawing from documents and interviews, it offers a full account of not only the role of the revolutionary left in giving political and practical solidarity to the Algerian liberation struggle, but also that of the Trotskyists during that period. Including a section on how the war has been reflected in fiction, this volume is sure to interest academics across various fields.