{"schema_version":"bf_book_companion_v1","release_id":"20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh","book":{"amazon_purchase_url":"https://www.amazon.com/dp/0850366542?tag=bookfrontier-20","asin":"0850366542","authors":["Peter Sanders","Peter B. Sanders"],"book_id":"9780850366549","canonical_url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/throwing-down-white-man-0850366542","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780850366549.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","description":"Surrounded by South Africa lies the small, independent kingdom of Lesotho, and this book explores how the Basotho people came to preserve this autonomy from powerful neighbors in the Gun War of 1880–81. One of several wars in southern Africa at the time, the Gun War was different in one, all-important respect: the whites were humiliatingly defeated, or at least decisively held at bay. Presenting oral traditions and archival sources with meticulous care, this history lays bare the narrower interests and conflicting perspectives among the Basotho chiefs and the local officials as well as the larger forces at work in the region. Compelling and absorbing, this study of the Gun War will interest historians and academics alike.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780850366549","publication_date":"20111101","publisher":"Merlin Press","slug":"throwing-down-white-man","subtitle":"Cape Rule and Misrule in Colonial Lesotho, 1871–1884","title":"Throwing Down White Man"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"HIS001040","confidence_band":"high","label":"Southern African History","score":0.7926,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS001050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"West African History","score":0.7375,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS001020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"East African History","score":0.7327,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"HIS001040","confidence_band":"high","label":"Southern African History","score":0.7926,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS001050","confidence_band":"medium","label":"West African History","score":0.7375,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"HIS001020","confidence_band":"medium","label":"East African History","score":0.7327,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"HIS001000","confidence_band":"high","label":"African History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS001040","confidence_band":"high","label":"Southern African History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Southern African History","score":0.7926,"slug":"southern-african-history"},{"label":"West African History","score":0.7375,"slug":"west-african-history"},{"label":"East African History","score":0.7327,"slug":"east-african-history"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers who enjoy Southern African History","Good for readers who enjoy Southern African History and West African History."],"related_lists":[{"intro":"","slug":"shelf-his001040-africa-south-general","title":"Africa South General Books","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/lists/shelf-his001040-africa-south-general"}],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Marie Muschalek","Marie A Muschalek"],"book_id":"9781501742859","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781501742859.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":12.3318,"title":"Violence As Usual","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781501742859"},{"authors":["Max Siollun"],"book_id":"9781911723264","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781911723264.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":12.234,"title":"What Britain Did to Nigeria","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781911723264"},{"authors":["Dr John Kinahan"],"book_id":"9781847013729","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781847013729.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":12.016,"title":"Namib","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781847013729"},{"authors":["Richard Dowden"],"book_id":"9780786741427","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780786741427.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":12.0111,"title":"Africa","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780786741427"},{"authors":["Jok Madut Jok"],"book_id":"9781780743004","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781780743004.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":11.9752,"title":"Sudan","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781780743004"},{"authors":["Robert Guest"],"book_id":"9781588342973","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781588342973.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":11.964,"title":"The Shackled Continent","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781588342973"},{"authors":["Emmanuel Kwaku Akyeampong"],"book_id":"9780253066657","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780253066657.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":11.9376,"title":"Independent Africa","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780253066657"},{"authors":["Dipo Faloyin"],"book_id":"9781324065890","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781324065890.jpg?v=20260418T080002Z-pairingsrefresh%3A2026-04-18T08%3A00%3A02Z","score":11.9095,"title":"Africa Is Not a Country","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781324065890"}],"topics":[],"what_you_get":["Reading lane: Southern African History and West African History.","Publisher: Merlin Press."]},"llm_signals":null,"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":false,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":0,"goodreads_ratings_count":2,"goodreads_reviews_count":1,"quality_score":0.8162}}