Author: Dick, Archie L.
Title: The Hidden History of South Africa's Book and Reading Cultures.
Description: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press. 2013. Same as University of Toronto Press isbn 9781442615922. 196pp large format illustrated paperback. 0.4kg. A Fine unread copy. ISBN: 9781869142476 Shows how the common practice of reading can illuminate the the social and political history of a culture. This work reveals resistance strategies in the reading and writing practice of South Africans. By looking to records from a slave lodge, women's associations, army education units, universities, courts, libraries, prison departments and political groups, the author exposes the key works of fiction, non-fiction, magazines and newspapers that were read and discussed by political activists and prisoners. Uncovering the book and library schemes that elites used to regulate reading, he exposes incidences of intellectual fraud, book theft, censorship, and book burning. Through this innovative methodology he shows how South African readers used reading and books to resist unjust regimes and build community across South Africa's class and racial barriers.

Keywords: literature social history south southern africa african