Cobley presents five interconnected case studies of previously neglected aspects of recreation and social welfare policy in South Africa. He charts their historical development and poses the critical question: In shaping recreation and social welfare policy, by what rules did the protagonists play?

Drawing on current conceptual debates concerning the roles of ordinary people and the nature of the colonial state, Cobley seeks to develop an understanding of the operation of power relations—the rules of the game—in twentieth-century South Africa.

Some considerations on the current challenges facing social historians of South Africa are set out in a short introductory chapter. Cobley then presents five interconnected case studies: the rise of African sport in the towns; the politics of reading and the provision of libraries; the control and training of African women in towns; the role of alcohol in the black community; and the emergence of social work as a profession for blacks in the 1930s and 1940s. Throughout the text he poses the critical question: In shaping recreation and social welfare policy, by what rules did the protagonists play? This work is full of provocative analyses for researchers and scholars dealing with power and the state in colonial societies, particularly in Africa.