APARTHEID IN SOUTH AFRICA Origins and Impact In recent years, South Africa's policy of apartheid has provoked intense public debate around the world. In writing this book, the author's aim has been twofold: to give the general reader a clear account of the historical background to apartheid, and to provide students preparing for examinations in South African history with a reliable textbook. The history of South Africa is undeniably complicated, and no single volume can do justice to all of it. What follows is an attempt to select the events and forces that best explain the rise of Afrikaner nationalism and the adoption of apartheid after the National Party came to power in 1948. The book closes with a chapter on the proposal, raised by some African heads of state in the early 1970s, that African governments open a dialogue with South Africa. Dr. K. A. Busia, Prime Minister of Ghana's Second Republic, and President Félix Houphouët-Boigny of Côte d'Ivoire were among its most prominent advocates. The proposal proved so divisive that it nearly split the Organization of African Unity apart. This book draws on the author's many years of teaching and examining African history. I owe a particular debt of gratitude to Mr. F. K. Buah, the first headmaster of Tema Secondary School and himself a historian and author, who read the original draft and suggested many improvements to its substance, presentation, and expression. Seth A. Asante 15 September 1987
