{"product_id":"9780821422762","title":"Promise and Despair: The First Struggle for a Non-Racial South Africa","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe struggle for freedom in South Africa goes back a long way. In 1909, a remarkable interracial delegation of South Africans traveled to London to lobby for a non-racialized constitution and franchise for all. Among their allies was Mahatma Gandhi, who later encapsulated lessons from the experience in his most important book, \u003ci\u003eHind Swaraj.\u003c\/i\u003e Though the mission failed, the London debates were critical to the formation of the African National Congress in 1912.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWith impeccable storytelling and rich character depictions, Martin Plaut describes the early quest for black franchise and the seeds it planted for a new South Africa. While most people believe that black South Africans obtained the vote in 1994, men of all races voted in the Cape Colony for almost a century, sometimes deciding election outcomes. The London mission was part of a long history of nonwhite political agency.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eTaking as its centerpiece the 1909 delegation, \u003ci\u003ePromise and Despair\u003c\/i\u003e covers the twelve years between the South African War and the First World War, during which the major forces that would shape twentieth-century South Africa were forged. Plaut reveals new details of the close collaboration between Gandhi and the ANC leadership during the Indian-South African community’s struggle for their rights, the influence of the American South on South African racial practices, and the workings of the Imperial system.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chiara Benedetta Condorelli","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47015503167728,"sku":"9780821422762","price":32.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780821422762_p0.jpg?v=1763751178","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780821422762","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}