'With brisk economy, this book provides a fresh and compelling explanation of the origins of rural poverty in nineteenth-century South Africa. It is indispensable reading for anyone who is seriously interested in understanding the persistence of crushing poverty in the South African countryside today.' Ivan Evans, University of California, San Diego

'South Africa is marked by extreme income inequality and crushing rural poverty. In this challenging and original work, Professor Clifton Crais reorients South African historiography, pointing squarely to the searing violence of colonial conquest - well before the mineral revolution or the rise of the apartheid state - as the root of poverty in South Africa's Eastern Cape. Though the argument is built on a close study of this one region, it has important implications for our understanding of the history of poverty and inequality across much of Africa. This thoughtful work, which looks closely at the consequences of conquest from the miseries of maize to the insecurity of land tenure, is sure to stimulate a lively debate.' Thomas McClendon, Southwestern University

'This work could be a watershed in South African historiography: it dispenses with some key orthodoxies in the established literature on the origins of modern South Africa and opens new perspectives on current concerns with enduring rural poverty and social inequalities.' André du Toit, University of Cape Town