This book compares conflicting interpretations of South African history, particularly the relative importance of mass action, armed struggle, economic sanctions & pressures from business in ending apartheid. Lipton argues that apartheid was ended by a combination of reform from above and pressure from below, in an international context that, from the mid-1980s, favoured accommodation rather than intensified repression & revolution. She addresses two further questions. The extent to which the competing liberal, Marxist and (African & Afrikaner) nationalist interpretations can by explained by differences over "the facts" or by the underlying theories, political commitments and/or professional loyalties and ambitions of historians. Second, the influence of these conflicting historical perspectives on the politics of post-apartheid SA. Thus, this is not only a study of major themes in SA history, but also of the ways in which historians construct their accounts, and of their influence on the future.