This book investigates the operational history and strategic evolution of the African National Congress (ANC) during its thirty-year period of exile from 1960 to 1990. Stephen Ellis, a scholar of African politics, utilizes a comprehensive range of archival sources from Southern Africa and Europe to reconstruct the organization's activities. The text argues that the ANC's period in exile was foundational to its eventual governance and that the armed struggle remains a central component of its political legitimacy in post-apartheid South Africa.

Experts recognize this work as a definitive account of the ANC's external operations during the apartheid era. Readers frequently note the academic rigor and the depth of the archival research presented throughout the text.