PLACE OF THORNS, black political protest in Kroonstad from 1976

217pp., illus., paperback, Johannesburg, 2015.

"Given that the most convulsive upheaval from the mid-1970s through the 1980s and 1990s took place in the main metropolitan areas, historians and social scientists have tended to ignore smaller towns. By examining Kroonstad, Moloi reveals that the pattern of urban black political protest and resistance in the latter half of the twentieth century is considerably more layered than an earlier historiography has suggested." Hilary Sapire, Professor of Imperial and Southern African History, Birbeck College, University of London

"I was born and raised in Kroonstad, a Free State town known for its famous sons and daughters such as Gabriel Setiloane, Pallo Jordan, Ivy Matsepe, Mosioua Lekota and Antjie Krog. This important book tells us about the other heroes and heroines of the town who didn't find the limelight, but fought a hard struggle for dignity, justice and freedom over generations. This lesser part of my hometown's history has cried out to be documented for a long time, and now it is done in an authoritative, engaging way." Max du Preez