In his study, "Islands of White," Dane Kennedy offers a novel perspective on the social dynamics of white settler colonies in imperialist Africa. Kennedy convincingly illustrates how these white societies were able to create a distinct and unified culture. Presenting a new interpretation of white settler society, Kennedy analytically demonstrates how the social identity of white colonists was radically recast to accommodate their special circumstances. Kennedy's study is of long lasting importance to the field of African history because it reveals the powerful dynamics of solidarity within colonial societies which consequently enabled them to create and maintain a system of domination over the indigenous African population. While the majority of historians have primarily focused on the social divisions within the settler populations, Kennedy asserts that economic, ethnic, and social differences were secondary to the overriding need for unification. Kennedy remains balanced in his approach by conceding that a certain amount of social friction within the colonies cannot be denied. Yet, he also sustains that the preoccupation of Marxist historians with the internal fissures of white society neglects to appreciate the external strength of the community. Through an analysis of the particular experiences faced by white settlers, Kennedy portrays how white settler society was not simply a transfer or replication of European national traits onto colonial society in Africa. He holds, "this was the distinguishing feature of the settler culture: not in the cherished values of the settlers' European heritage, but in the centripetal forces that distorted that heritage by securing it against all change."(192) To further establish this claim, the author effectively applies knowledge of social psychology to interpret and explain the pathological behavior of the white settlers. Kennedy's compelling argument is fully supported through his analytical utilization of many sources and statistical evidence. The extensive use of well documented private and official manuscripts further validate Kennedy's persuasive argument. Unlike many documents on colonialism, the volume appears to be written without prejudice and without reference to a preconceived view of determents. While historically solid, Kennedy's work brings a fresh, unbiased insight to the inner workings and far-reaching impact of white settler colonists. As Kennedy has firmly established in his study, "Islands of White," settler culture was the expression of the white community's delicately held position of dominance in the order of imperial Africa. In order to maintain this dominance, white settlers exerted strong social power to shape and control their identity and position. The significance of Kennedy's book is in its illustration of the power group solidarity can have in shaping a community and its neighbors.

This book gives some of the history leading up to the ascendancy of Ian Smith, but primarily focuses on the years where Smith was in power. The author gives a good overview of Smith's policies and how he negotiated with the British and American governments. There are also good explanations of the various organizations opposed to white minority rule and how they did and did not get along.

If the book has any shortcoming, it is that it was written in 1979, too soon to chart the rise to power of Robert Mugabe.

Lessing presents us here to a third (or forth) phase in the life of Martha Quest, a white woman in "Zambezia", a colonialist state in Africa. "children of violence" which consists the present book is a highly recommended series as a whole, but the whole is to be differentiated as the fifth book belongs to a different genre if to any existing one. the former books, this one included, on the other hand, make an important contribution to female bildungsroman, as Lessing tells us with what i heard to be a tone of apology, in the end of the fifth book. "a ripple in the storm", specifically, suggest some more categories. it faces us with a small comunist group in "Zambezia" through world war 2 which implies all the domain of questions from justice to power in its external and internal spheres, to the state of an individual inside a storm. the story is rich, clever, subtle. it leads us to the continuance of changing and growing of Martha (the author seems to hold a certain popular enough judgement of comunism as something to grow of personally and historically, though not without retaining something of it). it leads us there as if by ourselves. it's not that you want to be or feel yourself to be Martha, actually Martha is half hidden - to herself too - in the turbulence of activity, this is part of the story. it is that you can imagine your shade appearing there in the little rooms. another point,one gets a sad description of the status of women in an example of an ideologically egalitarian organization. this fact is made clear thoroghly by description. one might believe the author doesn't even know this fact (but of course, one shouldn't).

Charles Mungoshi's books will continue to be read two-hundred years from now. His work expresses the nuances of human emotions common to all peoples. He shows the good, the bad and the ugly - without giving them labels. A delightful read that leaves a long aftertaste.

Anyone who liked _Thinking in Jazz_, another Paul Berliner book, will probably enjoy _Soul of Mbira_. It takes a similar approach, looking at the history, sociology, tradition and musical nature of the Shona mbira (also known as the kalimba, sanzhi, likembe, or 'thumb piano' - though after you hear Paul's comments on the latter name, you won't want to use it again).

Other musical instruments by the Shona are also covered, but to a much lesser degree. The section on performance is nice, but it is the part which suffers most from 'dancing about architecture' syndrome.

The appendix on 'building and playing your own mbira' is informative, but unless you have access to an anvil and fire, not very practical! It isn't hard to modify the design and make your own anyway, though, it just won't be as traditional.

I was rushed to find a book for a colleague who was leaving and who had always asked for my recommendation for THE quintessential book on africa. From what I saw in Amazon's synopsis, I figured i couldn't go wrong with a photographic journal of the land, as pictures tell a thousand words.
There are some spectacular photographs in this book, which convey the rich heritage of flora and fauna in this region of Africa. Its a good coffee table book, and is also good for people who have been to Africa and need a display memoir of photos of scenes that you saw but couldn't capture yourself.I was tickled pink to find pictures of places I had seen and I had even been to, like the spice merchant in Durban ,S.A who displayed varying ranges of chilli powder ending in "Mother-In-Law exterminator" as his most potent, or the multi colored changing stalls on Cape Town's beaches.
Don't buy this book if you are looking for an in-depth analysis of the countries economies, and the present conditions and way of life of the ethnic people. The author devotes a few pages to a brief history of the countries, and stays away from making any socio-political comments or opinions. The book tells its story in pictures, and concentrates at times in depth on wildlife rather than landscape.
I like the book, and i think I'm going to get a copy for myself! As for my colleague, i hope this convinces her to take the plunge and head for a safari in one of the most pristine corners of the world.

A well written and enjoyable book-very easily read

I enjoyed "The White Tribe" greatly. It is very well-written and the history that it is based on is extremely interesting (it's a fictionalized account of the author's experiences in the Rhodesian war). It's a pity that it's out of print. However, I do have one problem with it. The author portrays Rev. Andrew Young as a homicidal race-baiting nut case who calls the Republicans in the USA, the Rhodesian whites, and everyone else he disagrees with "Fascists" and "racists" and rails about how all American whites secretly support white rule in Africa. Although Rev. Young supported some causes that were not worthy of the support of a man of his moral standing (Robert Mugabe and Communist-directed army, basically), he is not the lunatic portrayed in the book. I recommend "The White Tribe" to any interested in a good war story and/or history.

I first heard of this book while listening to a BBC broadcast in my car, on the way to work. Portions of the book were read and I found the story most interesting. I decided to purchase the book, and read it as fast as I could, eager to get to the parts I had heard on the radio. I was disappointed with the cover- somehow I had purchased an older, yellowed version of the book, with a cover that looked similar to the covers on Harlequin romance novels (yuck). While the author does a great job of depicting life in Africa during this time period, the story is lacking somewhere. At first, there is growing concern for Mary, the main character; she is a frail and odd creature, not completely sure about who or what she is supposed to be; the reader empathizes. Afraid of men and love, she agrees to be the wife of a farmer in the heart of the countryside because she seems to think it's the right thing to do. Although her husband seems to[destroy] everything he touches, including Mary's determination to be a good wife on a poor farm, it is Mary's struggle to keep her senses and wits about her that makes the story delightful. She does seem to lose it eventually, but I am not completely sure why. She tries to medicate herself with various tasks but that doesn't seem to help...why? Her interesting and mysterious interactions with the African househelp is (I feel) a good depiction of the way things used to be when White settlers colonized the greater parts of Africa, but it is the twist on this thread of the story that is puzzling. I am not sure what Moses' purpose is... does he love her? Does he hate her? Were they intimate? If she loves him why does she fear him? These answers were not answered satisfactorily, and it is maddening to wonder and question what happened.

"The Grass is Singing" is at once a simple story and a complex psychological and social analysis. It is a commentary on race relations in imperial Rhodesia, and an exploration of the timeless dichotomy of culture and nature.

The book is perhaps most interesting when the author describes the ideology of white colonists in Africa. In particular, the idea that extreme racism develops out of a need to justify economic exploitation is poignantly posed. It is not that whites oppress blacks because they hate them, rather they hate them because they have to oppress them and deny their human worth to maintain their standard of living. Thus, newcomers from Britain must be taught how to deal with and feel about the natives, and poor whites are despised because they seem to blur the color lines.

The main characters of this book are the Turners, Dick and Mary. Dick is an unsuccessful farmer, who lacks the mindset and risk-taking behavior of a commercial farmer-entrepreneur. Always in debt, always facing bad harvests, he still manages to live on because he finds fulfillment in his work and feels attached to the farm. Mary, on the other hand, is fundamentally unhappy with life. She was used to life in the city, working as a secretary, visiting clubs and movie theaters. She marries Dick simply because she realizes her friends think she should marry, and her meeting with the harsh realities of the countryside devastate her. Mary hates the sun, the natives, the bush; in short, everything associated with nature as opposed to culture. In the end, her unhappiness overcomes her to the point of full-fledged psychosis.

This book contains many insights, and Lessing describes the natural and social settings very vividly. Her detached exposition of the values of white farmers is very effectful (in this respect, I was reminded of Turgenev's quiet depiction of the misery of the Russian peasantry as a 'sideshow' in his stories). On the whole, however, I would have to say that the book failed to live up to my expectations, which had been raised by the captivating first chapter. We dwell inside Mary Turner's head for 200 pages, and unfortunately she is a spoiled and rather boring woman who fails to engender much sympathy.

When a colonial woman with a not unconventional upbringing who is not the luckiest person, decides to go for broke and marries as she is getting on, what could happen?

The anatomy of the master servant bond is one of the main themes of this book. Before welfare systems, all cultures had master servant relationships as the rich employed servants. The master servant relationship was stark in colonial Africa. The masters had to know the natives so that they could get work out of them and a certain amount of loyalty but the masters in Africa also had to keep the natives down, almost like animals, so that they could remain the masters and the servants could remain servants.

The natives of course as servants, could also benefit as underdogs as all servants do, being loyal, friendly and pleasing but not above their masters. Mary in the book, starts with preconceptions about her relationship to the Africans, and as things get from bad to worse, she if faced with a mistress servant relationship going horribly wrong.

Her husband is a fool, tied to the land and unable to organise his ambitions or get anything out of his farm. She knows better, but luck is never on their side. One actually has a respect for Mary and her penetrative intelligence, but the book describes how this very human intelligence with its stiff attitudes (she marries when she understands people are sniggering about her behind her back, in any case, women at the time did not have much choice in this), breaks down, collapses utterly.

Harrowing, hot hot weather with the dry beauty of Africa described by a veteran. This is a book that unravels in your hand and is a literary masterpiece for a first novel.

Lessing describes herself as a colonist and is known to be unconventional and vaguely feminist. She displays a keen erudition of the issues, language and sights of her once native Africa - and brings it home.

The total collapse of the economy is totally the fault of the ruling party Zanu PF.
The spending by the rulers of taxpayers money is well known and it has all to do with power and the thinking that all the land and its people belongs to Zanu PF. They should have left at least a decade ago for new ideas and new leaders, who in turn also should stepdown when their time is up.
The tragedy of Zimbabwe is a following up story of Africa.
Hopefully South Africa will not go down the same road.
Be carefull of too much power and power crazy leaders.

Any country that demands that the photo of the leader should be displace in every shop, restaurant or railway station is heading to total power.

This is the best book yet on Zimbabwe's political economy. It is full of detailed information on how and why Zimbabwe has become what it is. I particularly appreciated Bond's casting of this in the era of globalisation and the differing effects money capital has had on the country. This book's theoretical framework could usefully be deployed to other African countries, not least South Africa. His Marxist stance is welcome, in era where neo-liberalism has achieved hegemonic status. An excellent work, definitely worth getting.

Rarely has a specialist in Marxist crisis theory applied their skills to an African economy with the rigour of Patrick Bond. This lengthy study makes great advances in placing the economic problems of a small African country into a global context. Bond's main aim is to demonstrate how the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy in the 1990s is a product of both the specifics of the country and the forces of globalisation. In his view, the phenomena of overproduction and overaccumulation have very specific manifestations in Zimbabwe. He depicts several such manifestations, including boom and bust on the stock exchange and the rise and fall of property speculation. For Bond, however, these problems are rooted in a colonial history which created an economy based on a cheap black labour force. In his view, such an "uneven" economy could never sustain consumption levels adequate to ensure continued growth. As a result, the luxury consumer goods industries which targeted the white settler markets were bound to result in excess capacity. However, given the structure of the global economy, Zimbabwe ultimately had no outlet to solve this problem of overproduction. For Bond, this cul de sac lay behind earlier downturns in the economy but reached its most staggering proportions with the implementation of structural adjustment in the 1990s. The author holds out little hope for economic policy measures as a solution to Zimbabwe's poverty and inequality. Rather he posits the need for a transformation of the economic and political institutions of the country--based on the struggles and leadership of social movements. Unlike many Marxists, Bond does not leave everything to the inevitable advance of the "laws" of the capitalist system. Instead, he presents rich detail of the country's production and financial sector as well as linking the economic evolution of the crisis to the degeneration of the political leadership of the ruling ZANU-PF political party and the weakness of civil society forces. For anyone who is interested in the economies of the region, this is a major advance of our understanding of the linkages between southern African economic problems and the broader global economy. Although Bond's work is the result of Ph.D. research--he is no academic tourist. He has spent years in the region and displays the type of local knowledge that cannot be gained in First World libraries or via cyberspace. Despite its strengths, the volume has a few shortcomings. In one sense the richness of detail may detract from a broader interest which the book could attract. For readers who are not immediately familiar with Enos Nkala, Bernard Chidzero or Hunyani Paper, the extensive statistical and descriptive sections may be a bit too obscure to fully digest. Moreover, despite all the advances in our understanding of gender and development, Bond has not escaped the confines of the economy's commanding heights to seriously examine the gender and reproduction aspect of economic crisis. These faults aside, the volume is to be commended as a well-written, thoroughly researched and enriching study which breaks new ground in building an explanation for the failures of the 1990s. And for those with an interest in South Africa, Bond has presented a work which seriously calls into question any basis for economic overoptimism as a result of the "miracle" of the end of apartheid and the "Madiba magic" of Nelson Mandela.