Sharpeville: An Apartheid Massacre and its Consequences - Tapa dura

tells the story of the massacre at Sharpeville soberly and in unprecedented detail. (Times Literary Supplement)

Meticulous in piecing together the events (The Scotsman)

[Lodge] gives good socio-political background to the massacre (Metro)

Lodge's brilliantly complex yet eminently readably analysis tops a list of works of more narrow scope to offer a comprehensive view...a must read for libraries, scholars, and general readers interested in the place, period, or process of racialist South Africa's unraveling (Library Journal)

Lodge draws on oral testimony, the documentary record and thoughtful readings of photographs and film footage, as well as the work of other historians, to build an exceptionally textured picture of the build-up to the March 21 protests and their aftermath. (Mail and Guardian Online)

On 21 March 1960 several hundred black Africans were injured and 69 killed when South African police opened fire on demonstrators in the township of Sharpeville, protesting against the Apartheid regime's racist 'pass' laws. The Sharpeville Massacre, as the event has become known, signalled the start of armed resistance in South Africa, and prompted worldwide condemnation of South Africa's Apartheid policies. The events at Sharpeville deeply affected the attitudes of both black and white in South Africa and provided a major stimulus to the development of an international 'Anti-Apartheid' movement.

In Sharpeville, Tom Lodge explains how and why the Massacre occurred, looking at the social and political background to the events of March 1960, as well as the sequence of events that prompted the shootings themselves. He then broadens his focus to explain the long-term consequences of Sharpeville, explaining how it affected South African politics over the following decades, both domestically and also in the country's relationship with the rest of the world.