Year of Fire Year of Ash.

YEAR OF FIRE YEAR OF ASH

THE SOWETO SCHOOLCHILDREN'S REVOLT THAT SHOOK APARTHEID

BY BARUCH HIRSON

$24.95 UNI-CHICAGO PRESS

ISBN: 9/8-1-/8360-896-6

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Nelson Mandela is on record as stating: "We can say without fear of being contradicted by history, that 16 June 1976 heralded the beginning of the end of centuries-old white rule in this country". He was commenting on the Soweto schoolchildrens' revolt, an event that shook the apartheid state to its core.

Crucially, the book when first published (getting swiftly banned and its author jailed) overturned the conventional logic about the uprising by showing that it was not simply a student protest, but a revolt by the wider black working class.

Today, as South Africa experiences a new wave of popular revolt--with echoes of the struggle that took place four decades ago--and as new forms of black consciousness arise in movements around the world, this new edition of Year of Fire, Year of Ash, updated with a new introduction, provides a timely reminder of the continued significance of the Soweto revolt to struggles against oppression today.

The book will also remind the reader of just how perverse was the logic of apartheid; and how couragous were those who stood against it.

Written by Baruch Hirson, a South African activist and scholar who was intimately involved in the movement, the book provides an unparalleled insight into the origins and events of the uprising, from its antecedents in the early 1970s such as the Sharpeville Massacre, to its role in galvanising the global struggle against apartheid.