MARIKANA, a people's history

268pp., paperback, First SA Edition, Johannesburg, 2022

First published in the UK in 2022.

On 16 August 2012 thirty-four men were shot at the end of a week-long strike by police at the Lonmin platinum mine in Marikana, North West Province.

“The Marikana massacre was and is a major event in South Africa’s recent labour and political history. This text draws upon a rich interview base to offer a detailed narrative and a persuasive analysis of the miners’ actions informed by insider voices, that is, by participants … [It] will be the authoritative book on its topic” Tom Lodge, University of Limerick

"The Marikana families have long awaited a story which reflects their lives before and after the massacre with honesty and depth. This is that story." Nomzamo Zondo, Executive Director at Socio-economic Rights Institute of South Africa

Julian Brown is Associate Professor of Political Studies at the University of the Witwatersrand. He is author of The Road to Soweto: Resistance and the uprising of 16 June 1976 and South Africa’s Insurgent Citizens: On dissent and the possibility of politics.