Take a photo of a barcode or cover
veronicafrance 's review for:
Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa
by Peter Godwin
A very interesting read. I don't know how atypical Peter Godwin is; the son of liberal/progressive parents in rural Rhodesia, he grew up accompanying his doctor mother to road accidents and post-mortems, and his black nanny to Apostolic church meetings where he was the only white. The first part of the book, covering his childhood until he leaves school, is both touching and funny.
Part 2 is an abrupt change of scene, covering the 18 months or so he spent after school as a young conscript in the Rhodesian army after Ian Smith's declaration of independence and the black rebellion against it. As you'd expect this is harsh, and brings home yet again the futility of war, perhaps especially civil war, and that although you may start out with "principles", war will eventually corrupt you and you will be committing -- or at least complicit in -- the same injustices and atrocities you once railed against.
Godwin eventually escapes, amazingly unscathed, to Cambridge where he trains as a lawyer. Part 3 covers his return to Zimbabwe, where he is involved in the defence at a treason trial which sadly reveals that the new government is not above using the same tricks as the old one: the defendants, acquitted, are promptly locked up again under emergency powers inherited from Smith. Disgusted with the law, Godwin becomes an investigative journalist, risking life and limb to uncover government-sanctioned mass slaughter.
It's a bit gung-ho at times, with some episodes that read like a thriller, making you wonder if it could really have happened like that. But overall, it reads as a sincere and rather embittered insider's look at the mess that is Zimbabwe, still suffering from the same ills almost 40 years on. Well worth reading.
Part 2 is an abrupt change of scene, covering the 18 months or so he spent after school as a young conscript in the Rhodesian army after Ian Smith's declaration of independence and the black rebellion against it. As you'd expect this is harsh, and brings home yet again the futility of war, perhaps especially civil war, and that although you may start out with "principles", war will eventually corrupt you and you will be committing -- or at least complicit in -- the same injustices and atrocities you once railed against.
Godwin eventually escapes, amazingly unscathed, to Cambridge where he trains as a lawyer. Part 3 covers his return to Zimbabwe, where he is involved in the defence at a treason trial which sadly reveals that the new government is not above using the same tricks as the old one: the defendants, acquitted, are promptly locked up again under emergency powers inherited from Smith. Disgusted with the law, Godwin becomes an investigative journalist, risking life and limb to uncover government-sanctioned mass slaughter.
It's a bit gung-ho at times, with some episodes that read like a thriller, making you wonder if it could really have happened like that. But overall, it reads as a sincere and rather embittered insider's look at the mess that is Zimbabwe, still suffering from the same ills almost 40 years on. Well worth reading.