Ruth First's classic study of coups d'état in post-colonial Africa with a groundbreaking critical introduction for a new generation. A classic study of the role coups d’état played in postcolonial Africa, Ruth First’s The Barrel of a Gun is being republished for the first time in 50 years with a critical introduction from Christopher J. Lee. If Frantz Fanon had not died in 1961, what might a sequel to The Wretched of the Earth have looked like? Ruth First’s The Barrel of a Gun provides a possible answer by addressing one of the most notorious and complicated phenomena in postcolonial Africa—the coup d’état. Written at a time when the fervor of decolonization and independence was receding, and the vulnerabilities and violent realities of postcolonial state power were being confronted, The Barrel of a Gun remains a foundational work on the topic of postcolonial coups and state power.