Zambia Books

Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier

Alexandra Fuller

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 30 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Thomas Wolfe's trusted axiom about not being able to go home again gets a compelling spin through the African veldt in Alexandra Fuller's Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier. Fuller (Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight : An African Childhood) journeys through modern Zambia, to battlefields in Zimbabwe and Mozambique with the scarred veteran of the Rhodesian Wars she identifies only as "K." Intrigued by the mysterious neighbor of her parent's Zambian fish farm and further enticed by her father's warning that "curiosity scribbled the cat" ("scribbling" is Afrikaans slang for "killing"), Fuller embarks on a journey that covers as much cratered psychic landscape as it does African bush country. Though she and "K" are both African by family roots rather than blood, she quickly discovers that 30 years of civil war have scarred them--and the indigenous peoples they encounter--in markedly different ways. "K" is a figure of monumental tragedy, a decent man torn by war-fueled rage, a failed marriage, and painful memories of an only son lost to tropical disease. His adopted Christianity offers him only partial absolution, and Fuller details his gut-wrenching confessions of quarter-century old atrocities with compassion and rare insight. Her prose liberally salted with a rich, melange of Afrikaans and local Shona slang, Fuller nonetheless struggles with a narrative whose turns are often unexpected, yet driven by humanity. There's a clear sense that the author's fitful journey into the past with "K" has opened as many wounds as it has healed, and spawned more questions than it has answered. It's that discomfort and frustration that often reinforces the honesty of her prose--and reinforces Thomas Wolfe's adage yet again. --Jerry McCulley

James and the Duck: Tales of the Rhodesian Bush War (1964 - 1980)

Faan Martin

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Subjects -> Entertainment -> Humor -> General
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Subjects -> History -> Africa -> Zambia

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

A very different tongue-in-cheek personal account about a forgotten war. Between 1964 and 1980 Rhodesian men from all walks of life left their families and jobs to fight for their country. They were farmers, bankers, railwaymen, shopkeepers, miners and even Members of Parliament, who every six weeks, changed their soft civilian life for battle dress, rifles and grenades. These are their stories. It's not really about war heroes. It's more about bluestone charged, but still lustful troops coping with fighting terrorists, boredom, longing, fear and death. All this set against the background of Africa's sweltering heat, annoying insects, dangerous animals and venomous snakes. Definitely not for the faint-hearted. The reader will meet a long suffering prisoner-of-war, infantry soldiers, helicopter gunship pilots, tribesmen, pompous army officers, mercenaries and even a duck. Some of the personal incidents will have you laughing and crying at the same time. No matter how you view the Rhodesian Bush War, you will enjoy the humour and at times satire and even sadness of this true account of how men coped with the horrors and hardships of war.

Rhodesian Ridgeback (Pet love)

Ann Chamberlain

Amazon Price: $19.32 List Price: $19.32 Usually ships in 2 to 4 weeks By: Interpet Publishing Amazon Marketplace: 13 new & used starting at $15.50

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Subjects -> Home & Garden -> Animal Care & Pets -> Dogs -> General

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

Named for the peculiar ridge on his back, the Rhodesian Ridgeback is a handsome and strong working dog originating from southern Africa, where he was used for big-game hunting. His clean, musculature, symmetrical outline and distinctive sighthound body endow the Ridgeback with impressive speed, power and endurance. This is a dog graced with intelligence, patience and a keen sense of humor, making him a delightful companion, brilliantly adapting to life as a pet and weekend sports dog.

The author's discussion of the breed standard and the breed's characteristics will prove useful to the novice and experienced owner alike. Comprehensive in its scope and up-to-date in its content, this book offers expert advice on the selection of a puppy, breed-specific health concerns, house-training and obedience training as well as everyday care maintenance, including feeding, grooming, exercise and safety considerations.

Whether you are a newcomer to the Rhodesian or a committed fancier showing and/or racing your dogs every weekend, this new breed guide promises to be an indispensable addition to your library.

Dead Leaves: Two Years in the Rhodesian War

Dan Wylie

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

pretty good 4 out of 5 stars.
17 of 23 people found this review helpful.

all i have to say is if you like rhodesian war books you'll like this one .it starts off slow and its not chris cocks's fireforce but its another good story on a subject i love to read about.

Strong story from a territorial soldier 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Very good and very well written. Much better detail than Fireforce but not so romantic as Cocks novel deals with the RLI and paints a real macho story while Dead Leaves is the story of a territorial soldier caught in the mundane training and postings of a civil war. Vividly detailed, it is a must read for anyone interested in the Bush War.

Editorial Review:

It is January 1979. Groups of nervous, dutiful white conscripts begin their National Service with Rhodesia's security forces. Ian Smith's minority regime is in its dying days and negotiations towards majority rule are already under way. For these inexperienced eighteen-year-olds, there is nothing to do but go on fighting, hold the line while the transition happens around them. This is a textured memoir in which an ordinary troopie grapples with unique dilemmas presented by an extraordinary period in history: the spectres of inner violence and death; the pressurised arrival of manhood; and the place of conscience, friendship and beauty in the pervasive atmosphere of futile warfare.

Rhodesians Never Die (State and Democracy Series)

Peter Godwin, Ian Hancock

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Fourteen Great Years? 5 out of 5 stars.
25 of 25 people found this review helpful.

"Rhodesians Never Die" is a comprehensive history of the European population that ruled pre-independence Zimbabwe. This book takes a cynical view of Rhodesia's struggle to maintain minority rule amid increasing outside and internal pressures.

Godwin and Hancock put together an amazing amount of information in this work that includes even the smallest detail. "Rhodesians Never Die" chronicles every event, argument, article and demographic affecting Rhodesia for more than a decade.

The only drawback to this exhaustive work is its critical view of Ian Smith and Rhodesia's so called 'way of life'. Reading this book I got the impression that the authors arrived with preconceived conclusions about Rhodesia that weren't supported by their arguments. This could be due in part to the fact that this book does not relate Rhodesians to international influences or to the black population. I would liked to have seen a more classical argument and counter-argument to Rhodesia's problems.

Nonetheless, those who read this book will be greatly surprised to see how moderately the authors portray Rhodesia's Prime Minister. Even though 'Old Smithy' is not shown favorably, he wasn't the extremist as he is so often labelled. That role was played by other segments of Rhodesia's political spectrum.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who has read Peter Godwin's "Mukiwa" or would like to learn more about the politics of southern Africa. This book was well worth the wait.

Editorial Review:

This book tells the story of how White Rhodesians, three-quarters of whom were ill- prepared for revolutionary change, reacted to the "terrorist" war and the onset of black rule in the 1970s. It shows how internal divisions--both old and new--undermined the supposed unity of White Rhodesia, how most Rhodesians begrudgingly accepted the inevitability of black majority rule without adjusting to its implications, and how the self- appointed defenders of Western civilization sometimes adopted uncivilized methods of protecting the "Rhodesian way of life." This is a lively and accessible account, based on careful archival research and numerous personal interviews. It sets out to tell the story from the inside and to incorporate the diverse dimensions of the Rhodesian experience. The authors suggest that the Rhodesians were more differentiated than has often been assumed and that perhaps their greatest fault was an almost infinite capacity for self- delusion.

The Africa House: The True Story of an English Gentleman and His African Dream

Christina Lamb

List Price: $25.95 By: HarperCollins Amazon Marketplace: 77 new & used starting at $0.50

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Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A Man Ahead of His Time 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 4 people found this review helpful.

The descriptions and pictures of the English manor house set in Africa were interesting, but what I found fascinating was the complex character of Stewart Gore-Browne. He clearly loved the beauty of the land of Africa and its people, yet he was continually frustrated and angered by both. He treated his workers extremely well, loaned them money, helped with education, yet he also beat them.

Gore-Browne was ahead of his time in understanding that the white man should and could not be the rulers of Africa, that the governments should be run by the native people. He spent much of his life trying to achieve that goal. As others have said, it is a wonder that his name is not well known. Christina Lamb shone light on a story that should be told.

Editorial Review:

In the declining years of the British Empire, in Northern Rhodesia, Stewart Gore-Browne was a proper English gentleman who built himself a sprawling country estate, complete with liveried servants, rose gardens, and lavish dinners finished off with vintage port in the library. All that was missing was a woman to share it with. He adored the beautiful aviatrix Ethel Locke King, but she was almost twenty years his senior, married, and his aunt. Lorna, the only other woman Gore-Brown cared for, was married as well, but years later her orphaned daughter would become Gore-Browne's wife. The story of a colonialist who beat his servants yet supported Rhodesian independence and who was given a chief's burial by the local elders when he died, The Africa House rescues "from oblivion the life story of an astonishing man, an astonishing marriage, and an astonishing house" (The Spectator).

Zambia and the Decline of Kaunda 1984-1998 (African Studies)

Stephen Chan

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Editorial Review:

This collection of essays spans a 15-year period of close observation of Zambia and its first leader, Kenneth Kaunda. It begins with the 1984 Zambian elections and continues to Kaunda's accusation of treason by the Chiluba government in 1998.

Twilight on the Zambezi: Late Colonialism in Central Africa

Eugenia W. Herbert

Amazon Price: $75.00 List Price: $75.00 Usually ships in 2 to 3 weeks By: Palgrave Macmillan Amazon Marketplace: 10 new & used starting at $30.00

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Editorial Review:

This book looks at Central Africa in the moment before the collapse of British colonial authority. Beginning with a lively study of Northern Rhodesia, the book moves outward in widening circles to the views of native councils, of colonial leaders, of African campaigners for independence, and ultimately of the Colonial Office in London. The result is a prismatic glimpse of the complexities of decolonization in Africa. Based on a rich assortment of unpublished documents, the book focuses on the key year of 1959, the year before the events that turned the tide toward independence. Rich in historical detail and conflicting perspectives, the book provides new insight into the complex particularities of local colonial history.

Basic Facts on Zambia

Mwelwa Musambachime

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Editorial Review:

Zambia is a landlocked country in Central/Southern Africa, surrounded by eight neighbours. From the Victoria Falls on the Zambezi River to the southern shores of Lake Tanganyika in the north, and from Chipata in the east to Kalabo in the west, Zambia is a country of a variety of ecological zones, shaped by plateaus and escarpments, valleys, and hills. The country is donned with a variety of forests and other forms of vegetation, drained by small and large rivers, and endowed with lakes and swamps filled with over 120 fish species and blessed with an abundant wildlife ranging from the largest, the elephant to the smallest buck. In between are Buffalos, Giraffes, Rhino, various Bucks and carnivore- the Lion, Leopard and Hyeana. With it 19 Game Parks and 31 Game areas. For those who love birds, there are over 720 species. Zambia offers one of the best tourist destinations to see wild life in its pristine environment by joining walking safaris, drive -in or from observation points. From the rushing waters of the mighty Zambezi River, home of the mighty Victoria Falls and the envy of rafters, to the blue calm waters of the Lakes Mweru, Bangweulu and Tanganyika in the north, Zambia offers opportunities to the tourist to enjoy a memorable visit to the various parts of the country. In the coming year, 2005, Zambia will observe three important events: the 150th anniversary of the sighting of the Victoria Falls by Dr. David Livingston recorded on 16 November 1855; the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Livingston, the tourist capital by the administration of North West Rhodesia and later served as the capital of Northern Rhodesia until moved to Lusaka in 1935; and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dag Hammerskjoed, the former Secretary General who died in a plane crash outside Ndola, whilst on a peace mission to resolve the Congo crisis. Zambia is an oasis of peace and tranquility, the sanctuary for many refugees, and a country imbued with a democratic tradi

Colors of Africa

James Kilgo

List Price: $24.95 By: University of Georgia Press Amazon Marketplace: 23 new & used starting at $1.00

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

When James Kilgo is invited on an African safari, he leaps at the opportunity--even though the only shooting he is slated for is with a camera. As the group's photographer and "intoxicated by sensation," Kilgo not only documents the hunt, but also relays every sight, sound, and scent of the long trek through Zambia's Luangwa River valley.

The expedition is made all the more significant because Kilgo has cancer, and his lifelong dream is to travel to the great continent with "the sound of life." A retired University of Georgia English professor and former hunter, Kilgo's expectations of the trip are heavily influenced by the literary tradition of big-game adventurers Ernest Hemingway, Isak Dinesen, David Livingstone, and Theodore Roosevelt. Kilgo's sometimes-religious account echoes Livingstone's: "The mere animal pleasure of traveling in a wild unexplored country is very great," he writes.

Kilgo, an avid bird watcher, offers exhaustive descriptions of the many avian species he and the hunting party encounter. He sets aside his status as observer, however, when given the chance to shoot kudu, a type of woodland antelope that Hemingway also pursued and depicted in Green Hills of Africa. Kilgo soon realizes that while the experience of hunting in Africa is much the same as it was in Hemingway's day, Africa has changed greatly. Outside of the bush country where the party hunts, there is "poverty, AIDS, and genocide." But for Kilgo it is the beauty of Africa that resonates, as it is a place where the sky changes moment to moment, and the leaves and the flowers fade and fall: "Only the colors of the earth remain constant--black and white, sienna, ochre, and umber." --C.J. Carrillo