This series has been conceived as an outlet for research that might otherwise not have been published. Very important studies may have been rejected for reasons that do not affect the considerations that guide the Hidden Histories Series programme.

While the “Hidden Histories” series aims at producing marketable books that reach a wide audience, the existing market does not govern it. Our primary concern is to add to the knowledge available to scholars and the reading public, and to expand this public and its interests. Consequently, we seek out works that break new ground or cover old ground in new ways.

The South African reading and book-purchasing public is small and most books that are sold in bookstores here were published overseas. This is not because of a lack of material that ought to be available as books, published and marketed not only in bookstores, but also through other outlets that we hope can be revived or created in order to reach people who do not or cannot patronise some of the plush malls.

While the words “hidden histories” may have a slightly clichéd ring, they seem best able to convey what we are looking for: writing that we think is worthy of publication but has not yet found an outlet. There has been a shift in writing and scholarship away from certain themes that used to preoccupy scholars in the early years of the twentieth century, in particular monographs on rural areas. We want to encourage writing about places and people who live outside the main city centres. Also, there is now an opportunity to write about people, issues and events that was not possible in the past.

One of the reasons is the emergence of a democratic South Africa out of a protracted liberation struggle, many of whose participants and activities are little known because they worked secretly. Sometimes these “unknown” figures performed heroic acts. Sometimes individuals who are publicly known as traitors, who “worked for the system”, were assisting the liberation struggle. There is complexity, then, that has not yet been adequately captured in current literatures. We would like to provide a forum for such works.