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Library Journal Review

Univ. of California Pr. 1986. 315p. bibliog. ISBN 0-520-05769-4. $18.95. pol sci Writing here with his wife, a South African Indian sociologist, Adam remains at the forefront of controversial but incisive scholarship on South Africa. His Modernizing Racial Domination (1971) contradicted established ``truths,'' but 15 years later seems amazingly astute. This new and very current book, also grounded in a pragmatic, realistic analysis, will not please many internationalists, as its view of what it would take to dismantle the system of racial domination shoots down more simplistic notions. The authors are more optimistic about accommodation than most, but only if the various actors are realistic in their goals and methods. Not suited to newcomers to this subject, this analysis should provoke thought and debate among scholars. Highly recommended for academic libraries. John Grotpeter, Political Science Dept., St. Louis Coll. of Pharmacy (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

Each member of this husband and wife team has individually contributed substantial studies of contemporary political processes within South Africa. Adam authored the seminal Modernizing Racial Domination (1971), a work especially germane for an analysis of government policy today, and, with Hermann Giliomee, Ethnic Power Mobilized (CH, Mar '80), which examined contemporary political processes. Moodley, a South African of Indian Descent, has dealt extensively with the political behavior of Indian South Africans. In this new book, Adam and Moodley interpret the power configurations in South Africa and the current prognosis for change. Taking issue with many contemporary forecasts, they offer a thesis that maintains that neither the continuation of the status quo nor revolutionary transformation is likely. Based upon an extensive critique of current conditions, the work constitutes a significant, fresh interpretation that demands wide reading by Western policymakers as well as scholars and general readers. The study reports on the systemic changes that have occurred within South Africa in the last decade. Although the book seeks to extract major implications from such changes, it is in the assessment of contradictions within both planned and informal processes that critics may dispute the authors' conclusion on the future characteristics of South African society. Yet, in their identification of the processes themselves, Adam and Moodley provide a highly pertinent basis on which to project the outcomes of current interactions among key South African actors and institutions.-L.C. Duly, Bemidji State University