Volume 1, the first in the SADET Road to Democracy in South Africa Abridged Edition series, tells the history of the struggle for liberation in South Africa in the 1960s. Volume 1 includes chapters about ‘The turn to the armed struggle’ and ‘The Morogoro Conference’. While the series covers the period 1960–1994, volume 1 is based closely on the corresponding volume of the celebrated academic version of SADET’s Road to Democracy series, a reference work par excellence that has achieved wide acclaim and is now found on library shelves not only in South Africa but elsewhere on the continent and abroad.

Unlike the bulky academic versions, the Abridged Edition series is much shorter; it is quicker and easier to read. The footnotes and the lengthy quotations have been removed. So too have the intricate details that some might find overwhelming. What has been left is the nitty-gritty, the captivating account of how the oppressed masses strove to achieve their freedom in the 1960s. Each volume captures all the drama, courage and horror of compelling historical events, researched by experts in the field.

The names of authors of the Road to Democracy in South Africa Abridged Edition series have been removed from each chapter but theirs is the credit for researching and creating them, despite the summarising, cutting and paraphrasing that has been done to produce the Abridged Edition. The original chapter headings and most of the sub-headings within the chapters have been retained.

This Abridged Edition series should be read by every South African. The hope is that others on the African continent and elsewhere in the world will find much of interest in this and the other volumes in this series. After all, the history of the liberation struggle in South Africa is one of Africa’s greatest historical narratives.