Reviews

Journalist Meldrum was in Rhodesia to cover its 1980 decolonization for the Guardian and stayed on to watch the country's agonizing transformation into a horrific kleptocracy. The book opens with Meldrum's 2003 expulsion from the country that had become Zimbabwe; he'd butted heads with Mugabe's regime for 20-plus years, during which time he wrote a spate of articles exposing various facets of the president's murderous, corrupt regime. In this defiant, courageous memoir, Meldrum, an American, also details black aggression against the bigoted white minority, who treat the nation's "ordinary Zimbabweans" disgracefully. He examines Mugabe's ghastly massacres and all-too-familiar tactics of targeting gays, intellectuals, political foes and the press. He witnesses food riots, fuel shortages, poverty, inflation (at 350% and rising) as well as a family friend's son's death from AIDS -and simply yet powerfully shows how these issues affected everyday people's lives. Despite all he has seen, Meldrum remains hopeful, and this frank account is the better for it. Photos. Agent, Briar Silich. (June) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.