newsCategory: Book Reviews
Garfield Todd – The End of the Liberal Dream in Rhodesia, by Susan Woodhouse
The story of Garfield Todd in Central Africa starts in 1934. At the age of 26 he and his 23- year old wife, Grace and their adopted daughter, Alycen, came… Read more >
Kingdom, Power, Glory – Mugabe, Zanu and the Quest for Supremacy 1960-1987 by Stuart Doran
IN THE PREFACE to ‘Eminent Victorians,’ Lytton Strachey issued a warning that resonates with writers, historians, journalists and members of the public trying to make sense of post-Mugabe Zimbabwe. He… Read more >
The Odd Man In – Mugabe’s White Hand Man, by Denis Norman
One of the main surprises that followed Robert Mugabe’s overwhelming election victory (57 of the 80 seats open to Africans) in March 1980 was Prime Minister Robert Mugabe’s decision to… Read more >
Writing Revolt – An engagement with African nationalism 1957-1967, by Terence Ranger
Professor Terence Ranger needs no introduction to students of Africa, or to those who helped turn white-ruled southern Rhodesia into black-governed Zimbabwe in April 1980. This Oxford University academic is… Read more >
Julius Nyerere reconsidered
African leaders who were not corrupt kleptomaniacs but, instead, fairly ordinary men who lived decent lives and ruled alongside opposition parties and a relatively free press, are in for a… Read more >
Inglorious Empire – What the British did to India by Shashi Tharoor
Reviewed by Trevor Grundy Soon it will be the 70th anniversary of India’s Independence from Britain. Expect a tsunami of memoirs, newspaper articles, television and radio plays and… Read more >
Shafted: The Media, the Miners’ Strike and the Aftermath, edited by Granville Williams
Reviewed by Trevor Grundy On June 18, the BBC’s Radio Four flagship programme ‘Today’ reminded us that it was the 204th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. Sadly, for those… Read more >