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Hum Rights Rev (2015) 16:5963
DOI 10.1007/s12142-015-0346-6
BOOK REVIEW ESSAY
Myra Ann Houser
Published online: 25 January 2015# Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015
The ANC Youth League by Clive Glaser Athens: Ohio University Press, 2012
Govan Mbeki by Colin Bundy Athens: Ohio University Press, 2012
South Africas Struggle for Human Rights by Saul Dubow Athens: Ohio University Press, 2012
Clive Glasers The ANC Youth League, Colin Bundys Govan Mbeki, and Saul Dubows South Africas Struggle for Human Rights together contribute to Ohio University Press new series, Ohio Short Histories of Africa. The three works fit within the larger set of eight brief monographs, written by eminent scholars in a simple and publicly digestible format. The series provides an entry point for new scholars and the general public to familiarize themselves with contemporary histories in a format that is short and easy to read. At the same time, all three works have many challenges to offer more established scholars.
Beginning with an introduction that cites the ANC Youth Leagues recent travails with former president Julius Malema, Glaser attempts to place the organizations current struggles within its history. To that end, he outlines the development of the organization and traces its evolution from early days until present. The book attempts, according to Glaser, to trace for the first time the ANCYLs development. While based predominantly on secondary sources pulled together in the larger work, Glaser writes that If this serves to provoke new primary research on the subject, I would be delighted (9). While the organizations formation and development trajectory during the 1940s has been well traced, there remains a paucity of writing on the 1960-1990 period, leading up to a renewed interest in the organization in a post-apartheid South Africa. It is through its tying together of the early and later periods, with attention to the middle phase, that makes Glasers work most valuable.
M. A. Houser (*)
Ouachita Baptist University, OBU Box 3744, 410 Ouachita St, Arkadelphia, AR 71923, USA e-mail: [email protected]
South Africas History of Struggle and Liberation
60 M.A. Houser
Glasers second chapter, The Road to Bloemfontein, naturally traces the ANCYLs development during the 1940s, paying special attention to luminaries such as A.P. Mda and Anton Lembede, while providing an entry point to...