Autobiographies - Rhodesia / Zimbabwe:BushveldNET

A Brick and a Tickey High - Ben Bezuidenhout~The overwhelming success of My Mother's Kitchen was a Baobab (listed below on this page), prompted A Brick and a Tickey High. The stories centre around the author's grandfather in the land across the Limpopo River. This is another autobiographical romance and the stories are all factual, with the book going back in time to a wilder and freer age. The campfire was the traditional meeting place in the evenings after a day's work. Many were the occasions the author, then a lad "a brick and a tickey high," would sit with the old man round the fire and listen to these stories. Through the ensuing years there was this desire by the author to record these events of a time and an age that now no longer exists..…
Private publication. Softback, A5 size, 81pages. 8 photos, 32 drawings and sketches
NOTE - see 'Special Offers' section at bottom of this page if purchasing both books.

See author's works of fiction - I Can't Walk Away and This Bleeding Piece of Earth listed in the Fiction page.~Private publication
Softback A5
81 pages, 8 photos, 32 drawings and sketches

A Reader's Review
"The overwhelming success of My Mother's Kitchen was a Baobab, now in its third printing, was the reason for writing A Brick and a Tickey High.

The stories centre around the author's grandfather in the land across the Limpopo River. This is another autobiographical romance. The book goes back in time to a wilder and freer age. Again the stories are all factual.

The campfire was the traditional meeting place in the evenings after a day's work. Many were the occasions the author, then a lad "a brick and a tickey high," would sit with the old man round the fire and listen to these stories.

Through the ensuing years there was this desire by the author to record these events of a time and an age that now no longer exists. He remarks in his Introduction to the book. "Walter de la Mare worried in his Epitaph about the most beautiful lady that ever was and who would remember her when he crumbled. In a similar way who will remember the way of life that existed north of the Limpopo River when we crumble, unless we put pen to paper."

These stories have to be written down, stories of trials and tribulation, hilarity and sadness. It was a time when a person was measured by the strength of his body, his fitness, his ability to withstand extreme hardship and a thousand other related conditions. It was a simple, wholesome and satisfying life; a group of people with a great sense of dignity, honour and justice and with tremendous bonds of friendship.

As the author remarks, "These simple stories are treasured memories for me and should someone else acquire something out of them that would have made the effort all worthwhile." A Brick and a Tickey High is an enjoyable read."

Sylvia Wright

Author's Notes
This book centres around my Grandfather Gert and the stories he would tell me around the campfire. It was a wilder and more free time in the period before the Occupation and he relates stories about his fellow men and also stories about lions and hunting the elephant. EG it was easier to chase and hunt these animals naked, as clothes were hard to come by and a chase after one of these animals would lead to disaster for your clothing.

There are stories about blackwater fever and sleeping out in the veld, getting lost and so on. The stories again centre around Fort Victoria and the characters that Gert bumped into at the Vic hotel. There was Norman and his horse Rudoilph, who learnt to stop at every pub in Fort Victoria, and the great fire that burnt Old Mr McGhie's Shop down, the "know it alls" who would come into the country to hunt and fish, burials and funerals and so on.

That thing called "Sebenze" which was strange for the local lad, and the amusing problems people had with servants. The book ends with some anecdotes from my recent past. A book full of anecdotes and hopefully for the reader he will find it amusing and interesting.

Extracts from the book
A Tickey? This was a tiny coin valued at 3d.

Gert's biggest headache was checking the cook from stirring the morning porridge with the stick kept purposely for scratching his head. That and the fact that it was easier to wipe the plates clean with whatever apparel he was wearing that day. Then he had to prevent the man from polishing the knives and forks on the sole of his foot.

"Swarms of black ants improve a plate of soup and the cook's contention that they had been on the meat and were well boiled and therefore harmless leave me cold. I object to the corpses floating like seaweed on the surface."

Take that model of industry, the ant. My days in camp have on many occasion been an eternal battle against this species. I have placed an open tin of condensed milk on bare ground, remembering it a moment later to find it covered with a furry and pulsating black rug that has appeared from nowhere.

"Take good care of you rifle as the mother does of the baby. Clean it and rub it over with an oil rag everyday," was the excellent advice handed down to me. I'm glad, though, I wasn't cleaned with an oil rag when I was a baby. ~A Brick and a Tickey High|X 9247|~11674~12402~~

A Long Way Home - Grace Fulton~Grace Fulton's interesting tale of her life in Rhodesia covers her parents arrival from Scotland in 1897, family, marriage, sports, business, and political upheaval, until she left Zimbabwe in 1997. She was the wife of the renowned Rhodesian sporting personality, William Fulton.
Trafford 2008. ISBN 1-4251-4843-3. Paperback 142 pages.~Trafford 2008
ISBN 1-4251-4843-3
Paperback
142 pages

Grace Fulton has written a very interesting story about her life in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) Her mother was born in Australia, and after a brief return to Scotland, her family left for Africa in search of gold. They then traveled by ox-wagon through rugged territory up to Bulawayo, where the family settled.

Grace's early life was traumatic with her father committing suicide whilst suffering from black water fever. Her mother, Maggie, left with very little money and six children for which to care had no option but to put them in an orphanage.

Fortunately life improved when her mother remarried and they all moved to a ranch.

Grace was sent to a good school in Bulawayo, and later met and married William Fulton, a great sportsman who won 2 bronze medals in the Empire Games for boxing. They had three children, all of whom had great sporting ability.

World War II saw Willie serving in Egypt, and then guarding the oil fields in Iraq. When Willy was de-mobbed, he started a successful sporting goods business. Grace and Willy met and hosted many sportspeople from all over the world, being involved in training and many sporting events, including at Kutama Mission where Robert Mugabe was educated.

Willie was awarded the M.B.E. by Queen Elizabeth for his service to sport, and voted a Zimbabwe sportsman of the century in 1999-2000.

Grace's story of her life during the various political changes in Zimbabwe, make for interesting reading. She now lives in Houston, Texas.

~A Long Way Home|ISBN 1425148433|~11674~11827~~

A Walk Against The Stream - AJ Ballinger~A Walk Against The Stream is a true story that revolves around a young man called up to do his National Service in war torn Rhodesia in the late 1970's. His army posting is to one of the country's premier tourist resorts and it is there that he falls in love with a young croupier from a nearby Casino. The story centres on their relationship and the challenges they face as the war rages around them and the village they live in. It is a passionate embrace of a first love and a lost love. Of wasted youth and blood spilled on the dry African soil. A fascinating insight into the life of two young people brought together by love and war in a truly magnificent Continent.
'A Walk against the Stream' is a true, passionate story of love, youth and war in a country on the brink of falling apart. It is one of the better books of its genre, because of its human interest and is quite clearly written from the heart. I recommend it to any reader.' - Hugh Bomford: Hon. Secretary, Rhodesian Services Association.
ISBN 1-4251-0503-3, Paperback 471 pages.~Trafford Publishing, 2007
ISBN 1-4251-0503-3
Paperback
471 pages

The Book
A Walk Against The Stream is a true story that revolves around a young man called up to do his National Service in war torn Rhodesia in the late 1970's. His army posting is to one of the country's premier tourist resorts and it is there that he falls in love with a young croupier from a nearby Casino.

The story centres on their relationship and the challenges they face as the war rages around them and the village they live in. It is a passionate embrace of a first love and a lost love. Of wasted youth and blood spilled on the dry African soil.

A fascinating insight into the life of two young people brought together by love and war in a truly magnificent Continent.

The Author
The Author was born in Rhodesia, as it was known before its rebirth to Zimbabwe in April 1980. Brought up in a modest home in Salisbury, the Author attended nearby Churchill High School where he graduated in 1972.

Preferring travel to further studies, the Author worked his way around parts of the world until he returned to Rhodesia in 1976.

By this time war had engulfed his country of birth and the Author found himself drafted into the Army to fight terrorists bent on its destruction. This he did for four years, serving in various Army and Police units until the arrival of majority rule under Robert Mugabe in April 1980.

The Author left Zimbabwe in 1980 and live in South Africa for five years before returning to Zimbabwe in early 1986 to start a Construction company with his brother.

In 2000 President Mugabe "redistributed" farms belonging to the white community in Zimbabwe and this led to a rapid implosion of the economy. The Author was forced to liquidate his business in 2002 and now lives in the United Kingdom with his wife and two children.

Extracted from the book........

FOREWORD

This is a true story, based on my personal experiences in the Rhodesian Army. All of the characters, places and events are real, although one or two scenes are narrated in the third person to allow continuity.

I do not claim to have achieved anything spectacular during my experiences in the Rhodesian bush war but I continue to have a deep love for that country and felt I should put my story forward, to complement the tapestry of other fine works on this subject.

Whether you see one corpse or a hundred, you are forever changed and the innocent youth that you once were is gone for good.

So, this is a story of lost youth, lost love and the loss of a country loved more deeply than the other two.

APOLOGY
The original manuscript for this book was written in 1980 and it included more fiction than fact. When I decided to re-write it in 2006, I set about making it a factual book about my personal experiences in the Rhodesian Army at Victoria Falls, Rhodesia. Half way through the revision, I realised the book should be a story for all the men who served with me, particularly as so many contributed photographs. Indeed, the photographs I have included tell a wider story outside the scope of this book and are a tribute in themselves to the men I served with. The final draft, therefore, is somewhat of a hybrid of the two aims and I apologise if some of the men who served with me feel I have not done justice to them. I also apologise if time and a fading memory has led to any error on my part.~A Walk Against The Stream|ISBN 1425105033|~11674~11333~~

Against the Grain - Geoffery Nyarota~Geoff Nyarota was the editor of the Daily News, Zimbabwes only independent newspaper, for four years. In this time, he chronicled the decline of the country under Robert Mugabes Zanu-PF-controlled regime, and was subjected to extreme harassment by the state. As a young man, Nyarota fervently believed that his children would know the freedom of democracy that he himself had been denied under colonial rule. But after the war of liberation and Mugabes accession to power in 1980, Nyarota discovered that the returned war heroes were more interested in enriching themselves than in uplifting the people.
Zebra Press, 2006. ISBN 1770071121. Paperback 352 pages.~~Against the Grain|ISBN 1770071121|~11674~11805~~

Beloved African - Jill Baker~A brilliant love story spanning 3 decades of life in Rhodesia, as John Hammond and his English wife Nancy battle flood, disease, war and political opposition in their efforts to effectively educate a generation of black boys and girls to lead the post-colonial African nation they see coming.
"I feel there is no long-term future for the white man in this country unless he learns to live comfortably with the black. To that end I find myself more and more interested in the education of the black instead of white." - John Hammond, Plumtree, Southern Rhodesia, 1935.
ISBN 9781903905357. Reprinted Jan 2009. 488 pages~First published by Covos Day, 2000
Reprinted by Roper Penberthy, 2009

John Hammond was one of Rhodesia's great educators. Across four decades and in the face of hardship, misunderstanding and opposition he strove to educate and train a generation of boys and girls to lead a modern African nation in the post-colonial era that he saw coming. His story is also one of a great love, between John and his wife Nancy and of struggle through separation, war, disease and natural disaster. Told by their daughter Jill Baker, and based on personal interviews,hundreds of letters dating back to the early 1900s, annual reports from the 1930s to the 1960s and dozens of photographs, this book gives a unique insight into the life, mind and attitudes of pioneering colonial settlers working to help build a new and prosperous country on the high ideals they held.

Author's Comments, 2000
Does the grieving ever stop ?After nearly 20 years in Australia I thought I had 'got over' the agony of leaving the country of my birth.

I was wrong. Since being immersed, as I was, for almost two years, in writing about my father's contribution to Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) during that constructive sunshine period in the country's history I have felt scarified by the experience. Everything thing that happens hurts the raw edges more.

I had always promised to document what Dad had done - more for the family than anything. A year or so before he died, I sat him down over a couple of weeks and interviewed him, trying to get his memories and feelings on tape.

On each occasion, we would get towards the end of the period of his headship at Goromonzi School and he would quietly shake his head "I'm sorry ... I cant go on."

We tried again - and again. With the same result.

After his death in October 1996, I promised my mother I would start writing it down.

In August 1998, the first tentative words took some form and shape - boosted by the literary delights of hundreds of letters my parents had written to each other between 1935 and 1937 ... Mum as the daughter of an English county vet in Essex ... Dad from Domboshawa and then Tjolotjo - in the very new colony of Rhodesia.

I was fascinated. The letters were so beautifully crafted - the story simply unfolded before my eyes.

When Mum came in one day and said "I've found another suitcase full of old reports ..." I felt somewhat daunted. It had taken months to get through what I had already.

But these were the annual reports from each of the schools at which Dad had been headmaster. Reports which told in minute detail why decisions had been taken, what the prevailing situations were ... they were priceless.

I thought I would try and find a publisher! Where do you start ? I had a friend - with a friend ... and I found Chris Cocks of Covos Books in Johannesburg.

Within 48 hours of receiving my e-mailed chapters the response was "yes, we'll publish ... how soon can you finish it ?"

The finishing is a story in itself - but two things have given me more pleasure than anything. First, the extraordinary degree of delight and acceptance of what I have written from Dad's old black pupils ... then from white readers, at a time when every white who has ever lived in Africa is questioning whether their efforts were worth while, a sense of quiet satisfaction that - yes, an awful lot of people did try, terribly, terribly hard ... but time, and the political will were against us.

My father always insisted that the country needed another twenty years of education guided by the experience of the whites, before anyone might reasonably expect the black people of the country to be able to cope with the problems of running a sophisticated western society.

Events at the moment, appear to have proved him tragically correct.

I have written it as anecdotally as possible - I have written it, as Mum would speak it. I have tried, with the odd few exceptional and descriptive passages, not to let 'the art of writing' get in the way.

Anyone who has read the book and who knew my parents has told me they can feel them speaking and can laugh with their observations in almost every line of the book.

That is satisfaction enough!

But does the grieving stop - the agony of watching what is happening to black and white alike - the destruction of what was quite undoubtedly, as one of my black friends said 'the best country in Africa' ... no - it doesn't stop.

If anything, it just gets harder.~Beloved African|ISBN 9781903905357|~11674~12645~~

Blondie's Revenge and other Short Stories - Tony Granger~A highly popular book - 1st published 2006, now in its 3rd print run. Written by a natural story-teller and raconteur, there are 15 short stories with punch-lines, depicting mostly humorous and anecdotal experiences that occured at different stages of his life - school in Rhodesia, serving in the British South Africa Police Force, studying at Rhodes University in Grahamstown and working as a legal adviser in Cape Town.
ISBN : 0-9534217-5-9. Softback 120 pages.~~Blondie%27s Revenge|ISBN 0953421759|~11674~11992~~

Blood Sweat and Lions - David Lemon~By the author of Never Quite a Soldier: A Rhodesian Policeman's War 1971-1982 - also available on this website. (under Rhodesia - Military History)
Adventure, pain, fear - and moments of pure magic: these are the ingredients of David Lemon's latest story about Africa. In October 2006, overweight, unfit and by his own admission far too old (actually 61!), he set out to walk 1200 kilometres through the wild Zambezi Valley, from Kariba Heights to Binga, ignoring dire warnings about the dangers of such a venture. Exciting, poignant and fast paced, his story will bring hope and encouragement to anyone with adventure in their soul. Lemon has few equals when it comes to writing about life in the African bush.
ISBN-13 978-1906210663. Feb 2008. Paperback 280 pages.~~Blood Sweat and Lions|ISBN-13 9781906210663|~11674~11803~~

Bound for Africa: Cold War Fight along the Zambezi - Douglass H. Hubbard, Jr~This is the story of the author's introduction to Africa at a time when much of the continent was in the grips of Cold War skirmishes between the free world and the communist forces of China and the Soviet Union. Frayed from three years of service during the Vietnam War, Hubbard traveled to Africa intending to become a rural policeman in a quiet area of what was then Rhodesia. The counterinsurgency war flared soon after, a conflict that bore many of the same characteristics of the country he had just left. Hubbard describes his assimilation into the police force and into Rhodesian society, and he recounts the challenges and satisfaction of leading and training young Africans. This is a very personal story of the frustrations he faced and of the attitudes and spirit of the nation's racially mixed security force.
ISBN-13: 978-1591143949. Nov 2008. Hardcover 304 pages, 32 photos, 33 illustrations.
~In Douglass Hubbard's first book, Special Agent, Vietnam, he recounted the story of the highly dedicated professionals who volunteered to serve as officers, enlisted men, and civilian special agents of the Office of Naval Intelligence in Vietnam. Drawing on the experience of three tours of duty as one of two dozen civilian agents working for the organization that eventually became NCIS, he provided a compelling firsthand account of the clandestine and often dangerous world of counterespionage and crime in war-torn Vietnam.

In Bound for Africa, Hubbard pre-sents the next chapter of his career as a policeman conducting criminal investigations while fighting against another communist counterinsurgency. Physically drained by his three years as a criminal investigator during the Vietnam War, he traveled to Africa hoping to find a more peaceful life as a rural policeman in a quiet area of that country. However, when a counterinsurgency war flared soon after he arrived in Rhodesia, he found himself enmeshed in another Cold War conflict that bore many of the same characteristics of the war he had just left.

Bound for Africa is a very personal story that describes the frustrations of working and living in the shadows of a political settlement seemingly just beyond reach and of the attitudes and spirit of the nation's racially mixed security forces. He recounts the challenges and satisfactions of leading and training young Africans in police work and in fighting a counterinsurgency. Hubbard also provides a compelling insider's view of how the counterinsurgency was fought in the early days of the Cold War in Rhodesia, when much of the continent was gripped by political upheaval.

Hubbard's story will appeal to those with an interest in military history, intelligence, counterintelligence, and criminal investigation, as well as to those interested in a lesser-known chapter of a tragically unsuccessful war in the African country now known as Zimbabwe.

"A fascinating history of the activities of the Naval Investigative Service (NIS) in Vietnam from 1962 to the fall of Saigon in April 1975. Special Agent, Vietnam should appeal to a broad readership, military historians, students of counterintelligence and criminal investigation, and Vietnam veterans."
- STUDIES IN INTELLIGENCE

" 'Bound for Africa' is a particularly timely book about an important continent which the United States has, until recently, largely ignored. An almost Kipling-esque tale of an American serving in a counterinsurgency role at the end of white rule in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and the beginnings of the murderous misgovernment of Robert Mugabe, ...... and lessons which are directly applicable to today's Global War on Terrorism."
- Rear Admiral T. A. Brooks, U.S. Navy (Ret.), former Director of Naval Intelligence.

Douglass H. Hubbard Jr. is a consultant who has spent more than three decades working with the disadvantaged in Asia and in Africa. He is also the author of Special Agent, Vietnam, a memoir of his years in counterintelligence for the NIS in Vietnam (today known as NCIS).~Bound for Africa|ISBN-13 9781591143949|~11674~12263~BSAP~

Came the Fourth Flag - Bill Crabtree~This is the fascinating story of Bill Crabtree, his life as a mounted trooper in the British South Africa Police BSAP in the then Southern Rhodesia and his eventual rise to become Deputy Commissioner of police in Rhodesia. During World War II he was seconded to serve as a commissioned officer with British forces in the Middle East and the Italian Dodecanese Islands of the Aegean. After WW2 he was back in Rhodesia and became the OC Special Branch and Deputy Director of the Rhodesian Central Intelligence Organisation. He was deeply involved with other security services in combatting the rise of armed insurrection in the country. In 1970, he accepted a diplomatic position with security/intelligence connocations in Greece, with associated responsibilities further afield in the Middle East. He eventually retired from government service in 1982 and immigrated to South Africa. (Fourth Flag - a reference to the four changes of ensign in Rhodesia)
ISBN 1-904244-19-X Hardback, 336pp, size 240 X 164mm. Illustrated with b/w pics.~~Came the Fourth Flag|ISBN 190424419X|~11674~1453~Came the Fourth Flag - Bill Crabtree, British South Africa Police, bsap, Rhodesian Central Intelligence Organisation CIO,~

Cooksie's Cake - Jane Flowers~A girl child grew up in Africa. A white child, who had never known any other life than one of political turmoil and war. Rhodesia, later to become Zimbabwe, is set in the vast and beautiful wilderness of Central Africa. This is her story. Simple, charming,full of a childish wonder at nature's bounty.
Lulu 2008. Hardcover 307 pages.~~Cooksie%27s Cake|8961|~11674~11688~~

Crime Scientist - J Thompson~An account of murder, arson, forgery, embezzlement, theft, fraud and smuggling. Dr John Thompson became the first Director of the British South Africa Police Forensic Science Laboratory in Salisbury, Rhodesia in 1963, a position he held until retiring in 1977. In this compelling memoir of his years as the Director, Dr John Thompson spares us no bizarre and grisly detail. During the course of a distinguished career he dealt with some 12000 cases, ranging from sophisticated fraud to ritual murder. His forensic skills were instrumental in uncovering the truth and here he shows us how the killer is trapped by the evidence of a microscopical hair and the witch-doctor's magic is exposed by modern toxicology. Dr Thompson's story is an extraordinary account of science ansd superstition in tribal Africa as seen through the eyes of an expert - the crime scientist.
ISBN 0 86920 237 5, Books of Zimbabwe Publishing, 1980, H/B~~Crime Scientist|C ISBN 0869202375|~11674~1455~Crime Scientist - J Thompson~

Cry with Me: Part 1: the True Story About a Woman from Africa Seeking Asylum in Britain - Mabel Ann Pike~Cry With Me is a moving and heartrending, personal account by the author about how she grew up and suffered untold hardships and injustices in a war-torn and corrupt African country-Zimbabwe-and how she finally took the courageous step to seek asylum in Britain. Mabel, who writes from the heart, recreates the loving relationship she had as a child with her Shona grandmother, a practical woman who, though married to a white British man, lived simply, preferring to sleep on the floor by the stove and eat her bush meals than live by western standards. The warm loving relationship with her family, her parents and her children, shine through the various tragedies and hardships. She is ruthlessly honest in describing the inhuman cruelties of the guerrillas ('freedom fighters' or 'war veterans') who murdered and raped her cousin, and the Zimbabwean police who 'arrested' and abused her, throwing her into a stinking prison when she was nine months pregnant. The ultimate poignancy comes from the anguish with which she recreates her sweet daughter Aida's plight, dying from a kidney infection in the unhygienic and unbelievably filthy conditions of hospitals in Zimbabwe.Though Mabel proved herself to be an enterprising and resourceful businesswoman, the persistent harassment of government officials, the unrelenting havoc of crime and plunder, eventually drove her to seek a new life in Britain, the home of her forefathers. However, the five-year long and ongoing delay in granting her asylum, with the prospect of her appeal being refused and her being returned to the Zimbabwe hell-hole at the age of 53, has been a sword of Damocles over her life, resulting in stress and ill-health.
ISBN-13: 978-0595411672. 2006. Softback 190 pages.~~Cry with Me|ISBN-13 9780595411672|~11674~12444~~

Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood - Alexandra Fuller~Alexandra Fuller was the daughter of white settlers in 1970s war-torn Rhodesia. Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight is a memoir of that time, when a schoolgirl was as likely to carry a shotgun as a satchel. Fuller tells a story of civil war; of a quixotic battle against nature and loss; and of her family's unbreakable bond with a continent which came to define, shape, scar and heal them. In wry and sometimes hilarious prose, she looks back with rage and love at an extraordinary family and an extraordinary time.
310pp, Illustrated with b/w pics.
ISBN 0330490192 Paperback,
ISBN 0330490230 Hardback~Picador 2002. 310pp, Illustrated with b/w pics.

ISBN 0330490192 Paperback,
ISBN 0330490230 Hardback

Alexandra Fuller was the daughter of white settlers in 1970s war-torn Rhodesia. Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight is a memoir of that time, when a schoolgirl was as likely to carry a shotgun as a satchel. Fuller tells a story of civil war; of a quixotic battle against nature and loss; and of her family's unbreakable bond with a continent which came to define, shape, scar and heal them. In wry and sometimes hilarious prose, she looks back with rage and love at an extraordinary family and an extraordinary time.

'Like Frank McCourt, Fuller writes with devastating humour and directness about desperate circumstances . . . tender, remarkable'
Daily Telegraph

A book that deserves to be read for generations'
Guardian

`Perceptive, generous, political, tragic, funny, stamped through with a passionate love for Africa . . . [Fuller] has a faultless hotline to her six-year-old self'
Independent

`This enchanting book is destined to become a classic of Africa and of childhood'
Sunday Times

`Wonderful book . . . a vibrantly personal account of growing up in a family every bit as exotic as the continent which seduced it ... the Fuller family itself [is] delivered to the reader with a mixture of toughness and heart which renders its characters unforgettable'
Scotsman

`Her prose is fierce, unsentimental, sometimes puzzled, and disconcertingly honest . . , it is Fuller's clear vision, even of the most unpalatable facts, that gives her book its strength. Ft deserves to find a place alongside Olive Schreiner, Karen Blixen and Doris Lessing'
Sunday Telegraph

`Alexandra Fuller emerged from a deeply bigoted background as a funny and brilliant writer. With good grace, and even more good sense, she has reconsidered her childhood values. Her book is humorous and even-handed; it displays a wealth of understanding and sympathy for both sides of one of [Africa's] most bitter conflicts'
Times Literary Supplement

`Fuller's prose can be mannered, self-consciously `fresh' ... she has a sharp ear for comedy'
Scotland on Sunday

`Fuller has placed on record a neglected corner of social history and written a book that deserves to be read for generations'
Guardian

`While this is a thrilling adventure story, it is [Alexandra Fuller's] sensitivity to racial issues that marks out this book as a striking original'
The Times

`Through all the vicissitudes and excitements Fuller has preserved intact the vivid perceptions formed in her childhood, and relayed them here beautifully'
Financial Times

`Fuller writes poignantly and with a good deal of humour' Irish Independent `[Fuller] looks truth in the eye, writes it down and adds a twist of humour or irony'
New Statesman ~Select edition||Don%27t Let%27s Go to the Dogs Tonight (P/B)|ISBN 0330490192|Don%27t Let%27s Go to the Dogs Tonight (H/B)|ISBN 0330490230|~11674~4647~Don%27t Let%27s Go to the Dogs Tonight%3A An African Childhood - Alexandra Fuller~

From Rhodesia To Mugabe's Zimbabwe: Chronicles of a Game Ranger - Nick Tredger~Nick Tredger, after an 18 month national service stint in the Rhodesian Army, joined the Dept of National Parks and Wildlife in 1978 as a cadet-ranger. His first station was the remote Chizarira National Park on the shores of Lake Kariba, where amongst the isolated rugged mountains and gorges, he and a handful of brave young rangers working in siege conditions, fought both for their country and for the preservation of the wilderness around them.Subsequently, he worked his way through the ranks in arguably the greatest wildlife refuges in the world - Wankie (Hwange) - then, after Zimbabwean independence: Zambezi Valley and finally as Warden of the breathtakingly beautiful Mana Pools National Park at the age of 24.In the uncertainty of post-election Zimbabwe , when democracy and law and order was fast receding, he suffered the loss of his best friend, brutally murdered by Mugabe's North Korean-trained 5th Brigade and endured adversity, political interference and the omnipresent threat of incarceration by the Mugabe regime. In 1984 he decided he'd had enough and resigned from the Department and moved to South Africa.
ISBN 978-1-919854-37-3, May 2009. Softback 242 X 168mm. 320 pages, colour photos and map.~~From Rhodesia To Mugabe%27s Zimbabwe|X ISBN 9781919854373|From Rhodesia To Mugabe%27s Zimbabwe|ISBN 9781919854373|~11674~12526~wildlife~

Lost in Africa - Stu Taylor~‘Lost in Africa’ is a colloquialism from the Rhodesian Light Infantry (RLI), meaning ‘a state of bewilderment or cluelessness’, which Stu Taylor uses to describe his disjointed life. The parallels are clear as Taylor’s life in many ways mirrors the white Diaspora of central-southern Africa, particularly from Zimbabwe, and the subsequent fallout they have endured after the demise of colonialism and rise of brutal tyranny. Born in South Africa and raised in Southern Rhodesia to nomadic parents, Taylor’s early years were unsettled as he was shuffled from school to school during the 1950s. Describing himself as marginally above “really thick”, he signed on in 1967 with the RLI and served with that crack airborne unit for thirteen years, always at the forefront of hostilities during the bitter Rhodesian bush war.In 1980 he demobbed and slid into Civvy Street, at times an easy, and at times, a difficult transition, as he tried to find his place in the newly independent Zimbabwe. Again, in the late 1990s, he found himself on the ‘front line’—this time in the security business, desperately facing off against Mugabe’s ‘war veterans’ in their notorious land-grab campaign of farm invasions.Ultimately homeless, stateless and jobless, Taylor never gives up. This is his remarkable story.
ISBN-13 9781920143169. Paperback 216 pages.~~Lost in Africa|X ISBN-13 9781920143169|Lost in Africa|ISBN-13 9781920143169|~11674~11583~~

Honk if You Love Geese and Other Hunting Stories - Jim Woods~A memoir of the author's world hunting experiences. Approximately half the book deals with hunting in southern Africa - Zimbabwe and South Africa.
Honk if you love Geese and Other Hunting Stories is an affirmation of sport hunting. The author, Jim Woods, has hunted much of the world and gathered experiences that usually are available only to a small number of hunters. He has hunted in Canada, Spain, Honduras, and of course, Africa.
These exotic locales, and a large part of the United States as well, are the settings for this collection of the author's personal stories of hunting waterfowl, upland birds, small game, large game, and dangerous game. Honk if you love Geese stands out among other books on hunting because it utilizes a common perspective, wherein all the stories relate the hunting experiences of the same person, the author.
ISBN 141373541X 208 pages (October 30, 2004)~~Honk if You Love Geese|ISBN 141373541X|~11674~10995~Honk if You Love Geese and Other Hunting Stories - Jim Woods~

It Came Like a Thief in the Night - Martin Conway Cragg~This is the story of a young man, born in Kenya and migrating with his mother and father to the then Southern Rhodesia where he was raised schooled and eventually fighting for his country in the brutal Rhodesian bush war in the 1970's against a Chinese and Russian backed onslaught. He was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease at age 37 but has refused to allow it to dominate his life and has continued to remain active in everything from sport to business. Read this story if you struggle with the challenges of life today.
2007. Softback, 461 pages. Black/white~~It Came Like a Thief in the Night - Martin Cragg|8945|~11674~11660~~

Jack Malloch: Tango Romeo: The Life and Times - Alan Brough~ (Title not finalised. 'Cover' on left is not the book, just a picture & painting we have selected pending the official cover design from the publisher)
This biography is a true life action adventure story of incredible human achievement set against the backdrop of Africa's bloody and turbulent past - a past which has been largely forgotten by the rest of the world. Jack Malloch was a pioneering aviator who ran numerous clandestine airlines in Africa in the early post-independent years where he was involved in gun-running against the encroachment of Communism. He actively fought against the UN, yet was in the pay of both the CIA and the French secret service. He is most well known as the arch Rhodesian sanctions buster who almost single-handedly kept Rhodesia alive through a steady supply of consumer goods, arms and ammunition throughout the years of Rhodesia's UDI.

Planned publication date: June 2010

ITEM CODE - TRJM
NOTE - If you have memories of Jack Malloch and can contribute stories, we will gladly pass onto the author. Signed Limited edition copies of Jack and his Spitfire's 'Last Moments Together' painting by William Sykes available - please let us know.~ (Title not finalised, 'cover' on left is not the book, just a picture & painting we have selected pending the offical cover design)
World War 2 Spitfire pilot, erstwhile CIA agent and participant in a dozen African wars, coups and revolutions.

It is a classic series of tales about one man's determination to help those whom he believed needed assistance during a period when many of Africa's conflicts were fuelled and abetted by Cold War politics. Africa was not only the battleground of Moscow and Washington, it was also a remarkable cauldron of intrigue, violence and power play that often overflowed national borders.

Jack Malloch was closely involved with Rhodesia's Special Air Service regiment, including having direct involvement in some of that unit's long-range cross border operations.

The CIA also enters the picture, from their initial involvement with Jack in Katanga, through the civil wars in the Congo right to getting US Senate approval to sell him DC-8's in the early/mid 1970's with jet conversion training for his crews in America - which was sponsored by the wife of Claire Chennault, the founder of the CIA's Air America!

Malloch was also involved with the British Military at about the time of Ian Smith's Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) and was subsequently involved in some military support flights into the Sudan for Whitehall. There were also clandestine military flights into the Aden desert in the early 1960's delivering weapons for the British SAS in their fight against the Communists. While in the mid-1970's it seems that the British bases in Sharjah were facilitating the sale of second hand equipment and parts for Rhodesia's British built Hunter strike aircraft, subsequently used against the guerrillas who were invading Rhodesia from Mocambique and Zambia.

But most of the 'secret' work that Jack did was with the French Secret Service. The Elysees Palace was linked to a series of events in Katanga and in the Congo (once Tshombe took over) and the French appear to have financed much of Jack's support for the break-away Nigerian enclave of Biafra.

As a result one of Malloch's good friends over the years was the French mercenary Bob Denard. In fact it was Malloch that airlifted Denard and his group of fighters into both Dahomey (Benin today) and the Comoros archipelago the second time he invaded and took the country by force.

Into that mix arrives Jean-Louis Demage, who was in Jack's employ, and who was Bob Denard's second-in-command in the Congo - and apparently Africa's first hijacker. Soon after one of Jack's aircraft was shot down by the U.N. forces invading Katanga, Jean-Louis commandeered a DC-3 on the runway at Katanga's Elizabethville (Lubumbashi today) and forced the pilot to fly a group of wounded mercenaries who had been captured by the U.N. to safety in Kariba along Rhodesia's northern border.

For much of the 1970's Jean-Louis ran the Libreville office of Affretair, Malloch's aviation company which was used to very successfully break the UN's embargo against Rhodesia as well as ferrying cargo, arms and equipment into numerous other African countries.

Jack's flying career started with flying Spitfires in the Italian campaign during WWII, where he was shot down behind enemy lines. In the early 1950's he then flew a Spitfire Mk XXII all the way from the UK to Rhodesia for the embryonic Southern Rhodesian Air Force, and it was in that same Spitfire, after the Rhodesian bush war, that his flying career (and his life) came to an abrupt end in 1982.

He was a very secretive, remarkable and patriotic man who had a major influence on the military history of not only Rhodesia, but of many African countries throughout the 1960's and 1970's. He also had a rare 'flying intuition', which is summed up in the words of one of his WWII comrades: "In terms of ethics, character and flying ability I would compare him to Chuck Yeager".

This biography of Jack Malloch is indeed a true-life aviation 'epic'.

Planned publication date: June 2010

ITEM CODE - TRJM~~11674~12307~Jack Malloch, spitfire pilot~

Jambanja - Eric Harrison~A memoir and personal account of a Zimbabwean farmer and the Land Invasions. This humorous and devastatingly poignant novel is a fact based story of a white African's agonizing battle to save his home, farm and family from brutal and intimidating terror attacks. A Major Work, exploring the collective character of a rebellious Nation torn apart by racism and rationalization and offering an exciting insight into relationships between good governance and State sponsored thuggery and terrorism. The reader is taken into the story with such gut-wrenching reality, that putting down the book, is like fighting your way out of a vivid dream.
Eric Harrison 2007, Softback 216 pages. (Next 10 orders receives autographed copies)~Eric Richard Harrison / Lulu, 2007
Softback, 216 pages.

Jambanja - (jam-ban'-jah), verb, shona language - meaning: "Fighting, chaos and terror"

He didn't say a word as Whitehat stepped forward. "We are the new owners of Maioio Farm." He said menacingly, as he pointed to the other three. "You have got 24 hours to get off ... now move it!"

This book tells a first-hand story of the intimidation and murder sponsored by the Mugabe Regime. This was the norm during Robert Mugabe's so-called "Fast Track Land Reform".

Harry, a white Zimbabwean farmer, has fought to create a life out from under the shadow of war. From meagre beginnings he carves a successful citrus farm from the "dirt" of a newly-built settlement, only to have it ripped away in a series of vicious and shocking attacks. His family, friends and faith are sorely tested as he struggles to fight back "by the book."

Eric Harrison was inspired to write Jambanja after realising how uninformed those outside Zimbabwe are about the intimidation policies implemented by the government of Zimbabwe in the name of Land Redistribution.

A true Zimbabwean, born in the heart of the country, the author grew up amongst many challenges. He lived and worked with the local population, developing enduring friendships, and learning and respecting their customs and cultures... He grew up immersed in the Rhodesian political arena in a tumultuous era in that country's history. He had been a soldier in the Rhodesian forces, and ended the war as a Pilot in the Police Reserve Air-Wing. Eric Harrison has farmed in Zimbabwe for over 30 years.

Forced by "Jambanja" to leave their farm in South Eastern Zimbabwe, Eric and his wife Joan now live in Harare. They continue to fight for the restitution of their rights, dignity and self respect and those of the hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans of all races who have lost everything. This book contains an Appendix with details of the 16 white commercial farmers who were murdered in the period 2000-2006. As there is no accurate data available, it is known that during this same period, hundreds of black farm workers were also slaughtered.

The purpose of documenting this heart-searing reality is to give them all a voice....

Extracted from the book ....

PREFACE

Much has been written about the legalities of who owned the land shortly after the arrival of the first colonials. The commercial farmer in Zimbabwe, today finds himself in a situation very similar to that of countries like America and Australia, where settlers found that the local population lived a simple and. arguably happy life, oblivious to the ways of the "first world. '

It was natural then that when the colonials did arrive., they brought with them new ideas that did not exist before and hence, development took place at a remark-able rate. In every successfully developed country., land tenure is in place to enable the title owner to use his property as collateral. Without this, loans that enable the. fanner to develop his investment would not be made available.

In the year 2000, at a stroke of a pen, the President of Zimbabwe changed the Constitution, declaring, "the people of Zimbabwe have been unjustifiably dispossessed of their land.". In other words, that the land had been stolen and everything that had gone into developing the land - the years of work, sacrifice and involvement - counted for nothing, Shortly afterwards, he unleashed the war veterans onto commercial farms, unconstitutionally and illegally, forcing the farmers off the land.

This is a true story and like all stories. the storyteller is a part of it too. It is my story. my life but I have told it from the outside. It is a complex and difficult situation in Zimbabwe and I had to take a step back from the intensity of it all to give you, the fullest and fairest picture that I could, so you could make, up your own mind about the justice or injustices done in the name of 'land redistribution'.

There were over 4.500 commercial farmers, their workers plus families at the start of the land invasions.

4,500 stories - this is just one of them.

Eric "Harry" Harrison~Jambanja|8875|~11674~11839~zimbabwe farm invasions, zimbabwe State sponsored thuggery terrorism~

Minus the Morning - Jennifer Armstrong~"Are some people, defined by skin colour or gender, inherently good, while others are wrongheaded or even downright malicious? The journey towards self-knowledge is never to be underestimated, as it is a journey into one's own unconscious mind and that of intimate others. This is a coming of age memoir about growing up in Rhodesia shortly after the white colonial government declared UDI (Unilateral Declaration of Independence) in November 1965. Rhodesia later became Zimbabwe. The seeds of present day Zimbabwe and its troubles may be found in this book." - Jennifer Armstrong.
"Some are born to sweet delight, Some are born to endless night." A future Zimbabwean shaman looks into her heart and sees that the fire of her heart has totally destroyed her father's heart. Now she is free. But at what price?
ISBN: 978-1-4092-5512-3. 2008. Softback 235 pages.~Jennifer Armstrong elaborates....

Minus the Morning is a commentary on what it meant to me to be brought up in Rhodesia and then to lose everything. The theme of "morning" runs through the book as a metaphor for loss. Initially it is introduced in the form of incoherence. Just as a child's view on the world is a jumble of sensations and misunderstood communications, so it was that when singing a Christian hymn in primary school, I believed myself to be singing "Minus the Morning".

This early subconscious reinterpretation of the actual words, "Mine is the Morning", sets the theme for the story of my life. Was my subconscious interpretation -- based on a mishearing -- actually the correct one, whereas the Christian, official meaning of the verse was wrong? This possibility puts the onus for interpretation of life directly back to the child in us -- for it is his or her initiative to make sense of that which adults have only partly explained.

So it was that I navigated the meaning of Rhodesian politics and social life -- through a series of mis-hearings, and then later a desperate attempt to catch up and understand.

The loss of the "morning" also refers to the "morning of my life", as per the following song, sung to our departing headmistress, in Form 3:

In the morning of my life I shall look to the sunrise.At a moment in my life when the world is new.And the blessing I shall ask is that God will grant me,To be brave and strong and true,And to fill the world with love my whole life through.
It is a song that invokes the novelty and innocence of a child's growing up in a culture where naivety -- especially for children and women -- was systematically culturally and politically reinforced. When one migrates from that "womb", one effectively loses the whole social context that reinforced that innocence, thus loses touch with the sense of one's own childhood completely. This is "minus the morning".
Finally, "minus the morning" signifies the forbidding of mourning. For one is not to mourn that which one had never really had -- and in all sorts of ways, I had never really possessed Rhodesia as my own.
Political correctness in the world at large also prohibited this expression of a sense of loss, for whites were seen as never having belonged in Africa, and therefore not to have the right to mourn their loss of it.~Minus the Morning|ISBN 9781409255123|~11674~12431~~

Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa - Peter Godwin~Growing up in Rhodesia in the 1960s, Peter Godwin inhabited a magical and frightening world of leopard-hunting, lepers, witch doctors, snakes and forest fires. But as an adolescent, a conscripted boy-soldier caught in the middle of a vicious civil war, and then as an adult who returned to Zimbabwe as a journalist to cover the bloody transition to majority black rule, he discovered a land stalked by death and danger.
This book gives a true insight into what it was like to grow up in africa as a 'Mukiwa' - white man. It also shows the events leading to the current situation in Zimbabwe. It is brutal in some aspects but is well balanced with nice touches of family life and some good stories about Black and White relationships. If you are Zimbabwean, white or black, or if you want to know more about what it's like to be a Zimbo, this book is a must!
ISBN 0330339842, Paperback, 432 pages.~~Mukiwa|ISBN 0330339842|~11674~11026~Mukiwa%3A A White Boy in Africa - Peter Godwin~

My Mothers Kitchen was a Baobab: The Story of a Rhodesian Family - Ben Bezuidenhout~An autobiographical romance - already in its 3rd printing, 8000 copies sold. Ben Bezuidenhout expresses with affection and deep love, the natural and human environment in which he grew up .... a narrative of courage and struggle, its ambience one of man's interaction with people and nature. Living in Southern Rhodesia, Ben's family found themselves functioning as pioneers ... farms needed development, roads had to be built, water systems established, medical facilities made available, education offered to as many as possible and the essential infrastructure of a modern state provided for all. This adventure works itself through the anecdotal reminiscence of memory. It is laced with humour, acute observation and entertaining appreciation of characters whose work-ethic became second nature. The book ends when the author leaves Rhodesia in 1981.
Private publication, 2003. A5 sized, 118 pages, two maps, 20 photographs, 25 sketches/drawings, one letter.
NOTE - see 'Special Offers' section at bottom of this page if purchasing both books.

See author's pre-sequel A Brick and a Tickey High listed above on this page. Also the author has written 2 works of fiction - I Can't Walk Away and This Bleeding Piece of Earth listed in the Fiction page.~Private publication, 2003
A5 size, softback, 118 pages
2 maps, 20 photographs, 25 sketches/drawings, 1 letter.

A Reader's Review
"Now in its third printing. This book is an autobiographical romance. Ben Bezuidenhout expresses with affection and deep love, the natural and human environment in which he grew up. Here is a narrative of courage and struggle, its ambience one of man's interaction with people and nature.

Living in the colony of Southern Rhodesia, Ben's family found themselves functioning as pioneers in a country won for imperialism by questionable consultation and aggressive conquest. Farms needed development, roads had to be built, water systems established, medical facilities made available, education offered to as many as possible and the essential infrastructure of a modern state provided for all.

This adventure works itself through the anecdotal reminiscence of memory. It is laced with humour, acute observation and entertaining appreciation of characters whose work-ethic became second nature. Enterprise and entrepreneurship became their watchwords long before the latter term became trendy.

Whatever the political and moral imperatives of the day, and the latter-day judgement of the twenty first century on the 'scramble for Africa' in the late nineteenth century, time and events have moved on. This book consciously avoids a political interpretation of the colonial experience in Rhodesia, its fifteen years of unilateral 'independence' and recent developments. Its focus is human endeavour, response, suffering and the struggle to respect and relate to an environment rich in natural beauty and challenge.

My Mother's Kitchen was a Baobab is a wonderful read".

Neil Jardine

Author's Notes
It is non political and makes no attempt at discussing or solving the problem of Rhodesia or the war. My family originally from Soekmekaar in the NorthernTransvaal were really glorified poachers and made a living by hunting inMatabeleand and selling their wares (biltong, skins and ivory to themarket in South Africa). When the First Anglo/Boer War came along in the 1880's my great grandfather refused to join the Commandos and decided to up sticksand move from the Transvaal to settle permanantly in the future Rhodesia.

The remainder of the story is the way of life and their toils and troubles intheir new homeland centred around Fort Victoria. It is about sickness anddisease, about flooded rivers, about hunting lions, and of course, the kitchen in the baobab where my mother was in charge and was really ourhome for many years.

One of the interesting pieces was that that the GovernorGeneral of South Africa from 1930 to 1937, The Earl Of Clarendon, went ona hunting safari and centred his camp around the baobab and my father was chosen as hunter and guide. He was nearly killed in a buffalo charge andthe tide of history surrounding the Clarendon family might have been differentand all this is described in the book plus the letter from GovernmentHouse in Pretoria written by Clarendon thanking my family for their hospitality.The Clarendon family are cousins of the Royal family and this goes back tothe time of William and Mary and Queen Anne. The Hyde family had two daughters who were married into the Royal family and were both queens,Mary from the William and Mary, and Anne. The Hyde family were given the titleof Clarendon and the present Clarendon was sent a book and he thanked me forit and parts of the letter are on the comments page of the web.

The book continues with stories about myself and my schooling and the way of lifewe had in Rhodesia. There is a section on the "School in the Bush" that was set up by the Education Department at Mushandike National Park and of which Iwas the headmaster. The book ends on leaving Rhodesia in 1981.

Extracts from the Book
Malaria was the killer in the early days. Dr Williams had a daily greeting for all he met.

'Have you taken your quinine?' On receiving an affirmative answer he would reply, 'Well take some more.'

S.P. Lived to 97 years. On his last birthday I phoned him and asked after his health. There was a sigh at the other end of the line and then the reply, 'Man, have you ever tried dying before? It's damn difficult.'

'Dad,' said Benjamin, 'how do I explain grandfather to my friends? I mean this is the end of the twentieth century and they won't believe that in this day and age there is still an old prospector living in a mud hut with cow dung flooring. What do I tell them?'

'Just tell the truth and describe what you have seen with pride. You don't have to be ashamed,' I replied.

Some wood-boring grubs are as big as small sausages. Six of them would set you up for the day. Rodents provided good food and nourishment. These animals were not town rodents but animals that ate grass and seeds. Embers of the fire would burn off the fur and the skin would act as a baster. The taste was indistinguishable from rabbit.~My Mothers Kitchen was a Baobab|X 9248|~11674~12399~~

Nickel Cross - 'Prop' Preller Geldenhuys~By author of Rhodesian Air Force Operations: With Air Strike Log
A lesson in War, and life, results in "to the Victor, the spoils". In other words, the Government in power writes its own so-called 'history'. Where this is lacking, especially in Africa, country name changes occur, followed by the hijacking of City, town and even street names. So, before long, places and names like Rhodesia and even Pretoria will fade into the past (dare I say history?). My factstory biography thus covers the past 100 years as a true Geldenhuys heritage - - from the Anglo-Boer war days of my grandfather Jannie (Oudad), my father Preller's East African Campaign during World War II - in forgotten Abyssinia and Eritrea I hasten to add, my own family and friends' Rhodesian War experiences, and my twilight years after a very rewarding second career with Masonite.
ISBN 978-1-9201-6977-0, 2007. Softback, 334 pages.~~Nickel Cross|ISBN 9781920169770|~11674~11679~~

Once Upon a White Man: A Memoir of War and Peace in Africa - Graham Atkins~".....My grandfather warned me that trouble was brewing in our forgotten corner of Africa. Sure enough, I soon found myself plunged headfirst into the frontline of Rhodesia's vicious civil war. My carefree life of parties, pop music and girls was suddenly replaced by the perils of ambush, landmines and a lurking, unseen enemy. Barely surviving the war, I then watched with mixed emotions as our new nation, Zimbabwe, struggled to heal its racial wounds and build a new socialist order. Before long, however, the ruthless dictator, Robert Mugabe, was dragging my homeland back into chaos. With law and order sacrificed to political expediency, farms in flames, and the currency in free-fall, my life now became a desperate race against time to save myself and my family from ruin.....".
A riveting memoir by Graham Atkins, this is a true account of an ordinary "white man" born into Africa and living through extraordinary times. This book provides a clear summary of Zimbabwe's history and intriguing insights into the dilemma faced by white Africans trapped between political extremes. An easy yet gripping read, it confirms that politics and violence are never far beneath the surface in Africa
LP Sept 2008. Paperback, 256 pages.~The Book
A riveting memoir by Graham Atkins, this is a true account of an ordinary "white man" born into Africa and living through extraordinary times. The author's carefree lifestyle is replaced by the perils of face-to-face combat when he becomes entangled in the frontline of Rhodesia's vicious 1970's bush war. Wounded, he is airlifted to safety just as a deal is struck that will end white rule in Rhodesia and give birth to Zimbabwe. However, the new nation struggles to embrace democracy and before long Robert Mugabe is dragging the place back into chaos. With his homeland again in flames, Graham now races desperately to save his family from ruin. This book provides a clear summary of Zimbabwe's history and intriguing insights into the dilemma faced by white Africans trapped by political events. An easy yet gripping read, it confirms that politics and violence are never far beneath the surface in Africa

The Author
Author Bio: Graham Atkins was just 9 years old when the British colony of Southern Rhodesia declared independence from Britain in 1965. Graham attended Churchill High School in Salisbury (now Harare). He studied town planning at Wits University in South Africa where he also became editor of a campus newspaper and student residence chairman.

In 1979, just as the 15 year long bush war reached its zenith, he found himself conscripted into the Rhodesian army as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1RR Battalion. Scrambling to avoid enemy bullets and grenades, he saw first-hand the tragedy of a nation at war with itself and the horrors it wrought on combatants and civilians alike.

After the war, Graham worked first as a government town planner, then as a safari camp manager, and finally as a senior business manager in commerce. Like many, he was proud of his young nation's can-do attitude and the country's beauty and potential. However, hopes for lasting peace and progress in Zimbabwe were shattered when Robert Mugabe launched a pogrom against white farmers and the emerging black opposition. With the consequent collapse of the economy and law and order, some 3 million Zimbabweans fled the country, Graham and his family amongst them.

He is now a property investor in Perth. This is his second book.

Readers Feedback / Reviews

"...'Makorokoto' for a job well done. I could comment at length on your insights and how well you've put them into words, but I'll leave it as a simple 'thank you' - I thoroughly enjoyed it and still have a tear in my eye as I type"
- Brian, Darwin

"This is an important story - not just as an eyewitness account of recent events in Rhodesia and Zimbabwe, but also because it will touch the hearts of many who read it."
- Louis, Perth

"As someone living outside Africa, this is the first time I've really understood what happened inside Rhodesia and Zimbabwe. The political history in this book is fascinating."
- Sarah, Perth

"I have just finished reading the last page of your book. I have to tell you I really enjoyed the whole experience - I have read one or two other books about our common past and I was left craving another approach. You nailed it on the head. Thank you for all the effort you made to put down your story and share it with us"
- Tom H Whitney, Malta

"We had 'book-club' last night... Claire read the last pages out aloud to us, and the four Africa ladies could not keep the tears from flowing, it was just superb. Claire said she has never cried so much in her life... "
- Wendy, Perth"Such a good summary of what us whites went through ... The way you described certain things – like the Zambezi and your own garden, the bush, trees and birds brought a tear to my eye I must admit – spot on – there really is something so special about these things that only us Rhodies can appreciate. I’ll be flicking back to page number 1 to start it again! I even learnt one or two things that I didn’t even know about my own country which moved me. Thanks so much for sharing your story"
- Brendan, Sydney

“I laughed and cried a lot… so many memories”
– Pam, Goulburn NSW ~Once Upon a White Man|9179|~11674~12260~~

Out of Action - Chris Cocks~The sequel to the best-selling Fireforce - One Man's War in the Rhodesian Light Infantry (Listed under 'Rhodesia - Military History').
It is an intensely personal journey of the story of a young man, brutalized by war, who seeks escape and in the process causes immeasurable pain and suffering to himself and to those around him. The book spans the period between 1979 and 1995, in Rhodesia/ Zimbabwe. Set in two parts, the first covers the last 15 months of the bush war during whilst serving in the Rhodesian PATU (Police Anti Terrorist Unit). The second part covers the author clumsy attempts to deal with civilian life in the newly independent, black African state.
(Originally published as Survival Course, this is a hard-cover, reworked version, with new photos, maps etc.)
ISBN 978-1-920143-20-6, March 2008. Hardback, 312 pp incl. 32pp colour photo section.
NOTE - see 'Special Offers' section at bottom of this page~30 Degrees South Publishing
ISBN 978-1-920143-20-6
March 2008
Hardback with dustjacket
234 x153mm
312 pp incl. 32pp colour photo section

Originally published as Survival Course in 1999, now long out of print, Out of Action is a reworked and updated edition, the sequel to the best-selling Fireforce-one man's war in the Rhodesian Light Infantry. The book is divided into two distinct parts:

Part 1, 'War', chronicles Chris Cocks's final 16 months of combat in the Rhodesian bush war, as a stick leader in PATU, the Police Ant-Terrorist Unit. It is a time of unbelievable cruelty as the part-time white reservists battle overwhelming odds, without air support and … without a future, as Mugabe's ZANLA guerrillas swamp the country in the build-up to independence in 1980.

Part 2, 'Peace', recounts the author's painful adjustment to life as a civilian-a fifteen-year odyssey in the embryonic state of Zimbabwe. It is an intensely personal journey in which the author pulls no punches as he describes his clumsy attempts to come to terms with a) the new dispensation of black Africa and b) himself. It is a cri de couer, the story of a young man, brutalized by war, who seeks escape in alcohol and drugs, and who, in the process, causes immeasurable pain and suffering to those around him. These too are the casualties of war.

Ultimately, though, it is a story of hope, of a man's triumph over his own demons.

The Author
Chris Cocks lives in Johannesburg. He is a partner in the recently established South African publishing house, 30° South Publishers. He is the author of Fireforce (now in its fourth edition); Survival Course; a novel, Cyclone Blues; and is the editor and compiler of The Saints-The Rhodesian Light Infantry. He is currently writing the biography of his childhood, of growing up in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and the subsequent adjustment to life in the rebel colony of Rhodesia.~Out of Action|X ISBN 9781920143206|Out of Action|ISBN 9781920143206|~11674~11844~Survival Course, Chris Cocks, Fireforce~

Over My Shoulder - G V Rogers~Following an early childhood in Cape Town, struggling with school and receiving beatings at the hands of an authoritarian father, Guy Rogers developed the courage and strength of character that would serve him well throughout his varied and colourful career. Recounting here his time in the army, life working in the mines and for the police force in Rhodesia, the effects of apartheid upon his life are seen vividly alongside personal experiences of love and tragedy.In this charming account we encounter leading political figures, witness Royal visits and see the carefree innocence of youth survive even the worst political unrest. Re-examining his highs and lows with honesty, this is the story of one man as he looks back, over his shoulder, at his life.
Athena Press 2008. 140 pages~~Over My Shoulder|9026|~11674~11901~~

Paget's Progress: A tale of high adventure and low salaries - Dick Paget~Paget's Progress is the true story of a man emerging from humble beginnings to a life packed with adventure and variety in Africa. Dick's varied career has included being an Rhodesian Army Medic; founding and then managing a rehabilitation centre for army casualties (Tsanga Lodge - Inganga); Outward Bound outdoor adventure centres and managing a security firm in Malawi. His story is told with humour, excitement and pathos; making it a thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable read.
ISBN-13 9781434305329. AuthorHouse, 2007. Softback, 516 pages
Note - see title Tsanga: Place of Reeds, Place of Healing - Heather Powell listed under 'General'~AuthorHouse, 2007
ISBN-13 9781434305329
Softback, 516 pages

Paget's Progress is the true story of a man emerging from humble beginnings to a life packed with adventure and variety in Africa. Dick's varied career has included being an army Medic; running a rehabilitation centre for army casualties (Tsanga Lodge); outward bound centres and managing a security firm in Malawi. His story is told with humour, excitement and pathos; making it a thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable read.

Despite his humble upbringing Dick discovered that he had an uncanny ability to influence people and events; a natural gift that escapes his comprehension to this day. However it is a factor that becomes increasingly more apparent as his life unfolds.

Dick's story weaves through his childhood during the Second World War, his education, friendships, sporting activities and conscription into the RAF; each anecdote unfolding in a self deprecating style. After being accepted by the Rhodesian Army Medical Corps, Dick travelled to Africa.

From here on Dick treats the reader to a non-stop series of events that encompass just about every aspect of human experience, and the variety of his work experience and interests make it all the more intriguing. This idyllic lifestyle stops abruptly when Robert Mugabe comes to power in 1980. Dick did not get on at all well with Mugabe's interpretation of freedom, and not overly enthusiastic at the prospect of spending a few years in a Zimbabwe jail, the Pagets fled to South Africa.

From there the story tells the highs and lows of his family's nomadic times in South Africa, Scotland, Malawi and again in Zimbabwe before returning to England where they now live - for the moment. When the reader turns over the last page there will be the inescapable feeling that the Paget's have truly lived and enriched countless lives along the way.~Paget%27s Progress|ISBN-13 9781434305329|~11674~11535~Tsanga Lodge, rhodesian army medic, dick paget, outward bound~

Paradise Plundered: The story of a Zimbabwean farm - Jim Barker~Paradise Plundered is the diary of a Rhodesian/Zimbabwean family that were forcibly evicted from their Karoi farm during the highly controversial "land grab". It takes you back to Jim's birthplace in Malawi; Prince Edward School; Boss Lilford's farm; PATU and the Police Reserve Air Wing in which he was trained in aerial reconnaissance. It relives the emotional roller-coaster ride of the challenges and upheavals - drought, floods, a bush war, and even wild animals. It is the story of a tightly knit family, in a close farming community, who all experienced the traumatic and often brutal farm invasions, which turned their lives upside down. The Barker famly resisted this onslaught for eight long years before finally being evicted in 2003, after thirty eight years of endeavour. Judy and Jim have adjusted to a new life, but they and their family still live with the scars of the mental trauma. The book is also filled with countless humourous anecdotes and pertinent verse.
"I know there are many Rhodesian writers coming onto the market and all have great stories to tell. Nevertheless I want to tell you that Jim Barker's book, Paradise Plundered, is in a class of its own. .......... This is a book for Rhodesians who love to have memories of a wonderful country and its lifestyle illuminated in their minds. I cannot get over the number of people Jim talks about, and of the places, countries, schools and events, brought so vividly back into focus. "Rhodies" will love it." - Peter Petter-Bowyer
2007. 364 pages.
(ITEM CODE - PAPL)

Currently Out of Print / Stock. To be reprinted shortly~~Paradise Plundered|ISBN 9780797424462|~11674~12640~~

Rainbow's End: A Memoir of Childhood, War and an African Farm - Lauren St.John~'Rainbow's End farm was a heavenly garden soaked in blood, or a fool's paradise, depending on how you looked at it.' This searingly honest memoir describes growing up on an African farm during the 'Rhodesian Bush War' and the twilight years of white colonialism in the 1970s. It also explores the shock yet euphoria of Zimbabwean independence in the 1980s as St John navigates her way through the immense personal and political changes. The abundance and beauty of Africa and its people as well as childhood innocence are superbly contrasted with the insidiousness of racism, war and nationalist propaganda to create an unforgettable read - eloquent, affecting and utterly spellbinding.
ISBN-13: 978-0241143360. May 2007. Hardcover, 304 pages.~

This is a story about a paradise lost. . . . About an African dream that began with a murder . . .

In 1978, in the final, bloodiest phase of the Rhodesian civil war, eleven-year-old Lauren St John moves with her family to Rainbow's End, a wild, beautiful farm and game reserve set on the banks of a slowflowing river. The house has been the scene of a horrific attack by guerrillas, and when Lauren's family settles there, a chain of events is set in motion that will change her life irrevocably.

Rainbow's End captures the overwhelming beauty and extraordinary danger of life in the African bush. Lauren's childhood reads like a girl's own adventure story. At the height of the war, Lauren rides through the wilderness on her horse, Morning Star, encountering lions, crocodiles, snakes, vicious ostriches, and mad cows. Many of the animals are pets, including Miss Piggy and Bacon and an elegant giraffe named Jenny. The constant threat of ruthless guerrillas prowling the land underscores everything, making each day more dangerous, vivid, and prized than the last.

After Independence, Lauren comes to the bitter realization that she'd been on the wrong side of the civil war. While she and her family believed that they were fighting for democracy over Communism, others saw the war as black against white. And when Robert Mugabe comes into power, he oversees the torture and persecution of thousands of members of an opposing tribe and goes on to become one of Africa's legendary dictators. The ending of this beautiful memoir is a fist to the stomach as Lauren realizes that she can be British or American, but she cannot be African. She can love it -- be willing to die for it -- but she cannot claim Africa because she is white.~Rainbow%27s End|ISBN13 9780241143360|~11674~11481~~

Returning to Myself - Linda Smith~Returning To Myself details events surrounding Linda's youth in Central Africa. This story begins with the outbreak of the Congo war on 11 July 1960, and tells of unbearable chaos, suffering and the bloodshed of millions of people; those who lost not only their homes, but also their country. It tells of the adventurous lives enjoyed by those who lived in the Rhodesias, the destabilization and break-up of the Federation of Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland, and the subsequent demise of these countries. It details the removal of the Batonka tribe in the Zambezi valley, Operation Noah, and the construction of the Kariba Dam wall. Tales of adventure, superstition, witchcraft, and ignorance are told in a most humane way. Returning To Myself looks at conditional relationships, business conduct, the indoctrination of religion, politics, education and social programming. Drawing from her experiences, observations and wisdom, Linda offers alternatives and a higher way of being and teaches the art of becoming a good human being. This offers the possibility of complete self-healing. Linda's writing leads the readers to the ultimate teachings that are of supreme merit, and offers humanity the possibility of awakening to full consciousness and to respond to their highest calling of returning to their true Self. There are numerous photographs on the general Federation scene.
ISBN 978-0-620-43242-9. 2009, Paperback A5 size, 324 pages. 30 b/w photos.

Estimated dispatch: From Jan/Feb 2010
(ITEM CODE - RTMLS)~~Returning to Myself|X ISBN 9780620432429|~11674~12826~~

Seasons In The Sun - Craig Musson~In 1978 Craig started his high school career in what was then Salisbury, Rhodesia at Vainona High School. Follow his ups and downs, the tears and laughs through his high school journey. This book also chronicles the political upheaval and changes as the country gained independance in 1980 and became the new nation of Zimbabwe.
Publisher: Craig Musson, 2006. paperback 236 pages.~LuluSelf published - C Musson, 2006~Seasons In The Sun|8814|~11674~11395~Salisbury Rhodesia Vainona school, Craig Musson,~

Shadows in an African Twilight - Kevin Thomas~Game Ranger, Special Force Soldier, Professional Hunter and Personal Security Officer -This is a collection of fascinating stories about a life of adventure spread across nearly four decades in Africa and culminating in Iraq. Many of the stories are not for the squeamish and tell of the aberrant behaviour of man-eating lions and killer crocodiles, stories of courageous Rhodesian game rangers who while fighting to preserve the wildlife of a beautiful country were also fighting against brutal terrorist forces. The author relates some of his experiences as a pseudo counter-terrorist operator in the elite Selous Scouts during the Rhodesian War and explains the cloud of suspicions cast over him that eventually led to his sudden forced departure from his beloved unit. He also covers many of his experiences as a professional hunter in the exciting world of African safari. Having also served in the previous South African era "black homeland" of Ciskei he offers an often humorous insight into life during the wayward period. This exciting book of high adventure ends with a discerning look into what it is like to work in war-torn Iraq in the specialized field of Security Escort Teams.
ISBN 978-0-620-39727-8. Nov 2008. Soft cover, 240mm x 170mm. 705 pages. Numerous black and white photos.
NB - Book is heavy - 1kg+, hence higher postage

Unsigned copies - Out of Stock. Estimate to start dispatching - early Jan 2010.~New Voices Publishing
Nov 2008
ISBN 978-0-620-39727-8
Soft cover, 240mm x 170mm
705 pages (1.2kg packed)
Numerous black and white photos

About the Author:

Kevin Thomas was born in Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia, in 1950. He grew up in the remote Sabi Valley where the wild environs would have an indelible effect on the rest of his life.

Upon leaving school he joined the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Management where he served as a game ranger for close to six years, some of which were spent in the Zambezi Valley.

During this time he met his wife, Brenda, and due to the escalating bush war, and following a short-lived safari venture, decided to join the regular Rhodesian Army. As fate would have it, he ended up as one of the founder members of the Rhodesian Army's Selous Scouts, a formidable counter-insurgency unit.

When his career as a young soldier came to a controversial end he again took up the pastime of professional hunting and wildlife management in South Africa and Zimbabwe. More recently he worked in Iraq for two years as a Security Escort Team project leader. This is his first book.

Kevin is an accomplished hunting writer and for more than a decade now, has been a regular feature writer for African Hunter magazine. His hunting articles have also appeared in Successful Hunter.

"... When the vessel upended, the hippo burst onto the surface
and as I toppled backwards into the river, my last glimpse was
of Tjoi falling onto the hippo's exposed head, I then disappeared
beneath the surface...."

Extracts from the book: Foreward

In developing this Foreword, I asked the author, Kevin Thomas, if there were any particularly outstanding details of his life experiences that should be highlighted. He replied modestly, that he really could not think of any! I have known Kevin for some twenty years and have consistently regarded him as the embodiment of what many of we, his readers, define as the ideal modern man of action. When we attempt to step into someone else's shoes, we often find that the shoes only partially fit. A few of us may have shared some of his multitude of hair-raising experiences with a variety of dangerous game and also during conflict. To have encountered much of what he has, and survived, is fortunate indeed. The fact that he has survived to tell so many exciting tales is little short of a miracle for him and an enjoyable treat for us. His many years as a National Parks game ranger, professional hunter, outfitter, guide and soldier in Rhodesia (Zimbabwe), makes him highly qualified to describe life and death in the bush. In 1968, at age 17 he was selected by the Rhodesian Government for one of the few highly contested positions of cadet game ranger, which put him on the track for the many exciting years to come. But that was only the beginning.

Kevin's roots are deeply embedded in the sands of Africa, and date back to 1820, when his British forebears became early settlers in South Africa's Eastern Cape colony. However, like many others, his family moved on and in time settled in the old Rhodesia, where his fascination with the outdoors, wildlife and hunting became firmly entrenched. Growing up in Rhodesia provided him with the experience that only the 'Old Africa' could provide. He, along with many others, saw this gradually disappear with the introduction of fences, settlements and game ranches. The days of spontaneously loading a truck with food, gasoline, spare tyres, tents, along with other necessities for safari, and then hunting wherever the hunting looked good, are now long gone. Most of us have been forced to accept that hunting changes along with everything else in life.

In endorsing a book of this nature, it would be tempting to concentrate solely on Kevin's outstanding hunting skills but that would be selling him short. I would not be doing Kevin's multifarious talents full justice if I failed to mention his life-long long interest in wildlife management and conservation, irrespective of whether the subject is big-game, birds, fish, butterflies or dung-beetles.

His varied gifts as writer, artist and craftsman prove his versatility, a feature that has made him such an interesting friend and delightful company over the long period I have known him.

The concept of 'Hunter-Warrior', which many big game hunters often apply to themselves, is one, which fits the author particularly well. Witnessing the end of the colourful colonial era was a sorrow in itself but Kevin stepped forward, manfully, as did many other young Rhodesians to defend a way of life they could not save. From the initial 100 candidates in early 1974, he was one of about fifteen selected for the famed Rhodesian Selous Scouts, admittedly one of the finest guerrilla Special Operations' Forces ever established in any war. He remained in the regular Rhodesian Army until just before the 'Winds of Change' blowing across Africa brought that conflict to an end.

Whenever and wherever veterans gather, exchanging 'War Stories' is par for the course, but Kevin's war efforts did not end on that one adventure alone. After the invasion of Iraq by American and British forces, Kevin volunteered his services as a civilian Private Security Officer and was assigned to Baghdad in January 2004, where he soon became the Erinys Security Manager of the International Relief Development program and was later made Erinys Sector Manager in Basra. After two years in Iraq, he returned to South Africa, physically and spiritually intact.

Kevin once informed me that he could think of no highlights in his life, but I reckon I could write a text on each adventure alone! As you read Kevin's vivid, firsthand account of his exciting adventures, you will find yourselves empathising with the 'Hunter-Warrior' and may realise, for the first time, just how many unsung heroes there have been among our unique brotherhood of hunters and soldiers. We owe them all our respect and regret their gradual passing.

John H. Brandt. Captain (ret) Alamosa, Co. November 2006~Select book||Shadows in an African Twilight|X ISBN 9780620397278|Shadows in an African Twilight - Autographed|X ISBN 9780620397278 Auto|~11674~12642~~

Soldier Blue - Paul Williams~Sometimes you can't choose your own battles. Paul Williams' superbly written memoir of coming of age in Rhodesia explores his experiences as a young conscript caught up in the bush war of the late 1970s. This is a compelling, touching and often humorous account of growing up in Rhodesia and the absurdity of fighting in a loosing war. The ugliness of the conflict, the trauma of transformation, the agonies of conscience of the writer, the beauty of the landscape: all are captured here in brilliant detail. Threading through the narrative is the story of Williams' obsessive infatuation with the enigmatic, sharp-tongued Bianca Pennefather, who leads him on a painful emotional and spiritual journey. Looming over this fragile world is the grotesque experience of the battlefield, where young soldiers like Paul Williams inexorably shed their illusions and lost their youth.
ISBN-13: 978-0868547145. July 2008. Softcover, 410 pages~David Philip Publishers, New Africa Books
ISBN-13: 978-0868547145
May/July 2008
Softcover, 410 pages

The Book
Sometimes you can't choose your own battles. Paul Williams' superbly written memoir of coming of age in Rhodesia explores his experiences as a young conscript caught up in the bush war of the late 1970s. This is a compelling, touching and often humorous account of growing up in Rhodesia and the absurdity of fighting in a loosing war. The ugliness of the conflict, the trauma of transformation, the agonies of conscience of the writer, the beauty of the landscape: all are captured here in brilliant detail. Threading through the narrative is the story of Williams' obsessive infatuation with the enigmatic, sharp-tongued Bianca Pennefather, who leads him on a painful emotional and spiritual journey. Looming over this fragile world is the grotesque experience of the battlefield, where young soldiers like Paul Williams inexorably shed their illusions and lost their youth.

A brilliant, captivating and deeply moving coming-of-age memoir set against the backdrop of the Rhodesian bush war of the 1970s. Paul Williams's writing sparkles with wit, irony and pathos as he explores the appalling truths of the battlefield, and the fragile world of romantic love.

Reviews
"A vivid story of coming of age in a country falling apart, told with wry, dry, self-deprecating honesty."
Ursula K. Le Guin, author of The Wizard of Earthsea and Left Hand of Darkness

"Paul Williams' memoir of his childhood in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) is a wonderfully readable and informative story that weaves together a number of themes: The country's tragic history, first as a British colony, followed by the Unilateral Declaration of Independence by Ian Smith's all-white government, and the brutal war that inevitably followed before a majority government could be installed, are all vividly portrayed. The author's 'coming of age' experiences as a Medic in the Rhodesian Army paint a picture of the horrors and ultimate futility of war, but also of the many moments of poignancy, humanity and even humour. But the central thread running through the book is the inner experiences of a sensitive soul, navigating through childhood and the demands and challenges of young adulthood, full of idealism and romantic yearnings. His love for the girl he had idealised, and the story of unrequited love that unfolds, before it is ultimately resolved, is told wistfully and touchingly.
Altogether this is an impressive memoir that tells a very human and moving story, while at the same time brilliantly evoking the historical, social and cultural milieu that was Rhodesia."
D. H. Liknaitzky

"Best Reads of 2008: The past few years have seen a slew of books about the Rhodesian Bush War and - following on from that - Zimbabwe's sad decline from the great hope of a post-independent Africa to a bankrupt, pariah state shunned by the Western world. Author Paul Williams's coming-of-age memoir, Soldier Blue, must rank among the best of these - a lucid, insightful and unflinchingly honest account of what it was like growing up during the last days of white rule."
Anthony Stidolph - Weekend Witness (KZN, South Africa, Nov. 2008)

"Wars, as this compelling coming-of-age memoir - set during the last days of white rule in Rhodesia - reminds us, do not necessarily end when the guns fall silent or the politicians declare them to be over. The aftershocks continue to reverberate for those that have survived them as they struggle to pick up the pieces and rebuild their lives.
Although written almost 30 years after the events described, author Paul Williams's memory remains clear and his account of the bravery and foolishness, the stoicism and cruelty and the general dislocation of wartime remains vivid and real.
In recalling his not always smooth passage from a callow, love-lorn youth hopelessly infatuated with an unattainable beauty to a war-weary, disillusioned adult, he does not always paint himself in a heroic light. His book is also more than just the usual nostalgic trawl down memory lane. For one thing he is too honest.
By his own admission a somewhat reluctant soldier, Williams perfectly captures the prevailing air of unreality with his description of his stint, as a medic, at Vila Salazar, a remote, godforsaken, heavily fortified military garrison situated in a no-go zone on the Mozambique border. Left very much to their own devices, its scruffy, laconic residents had long since dispensed with any semblance of military etiqutte or discipline and reverted to their traditional beer and braai lifestyle while the shells continued to explode around them.
As is the case in conflicts of this sort it is often the defenceless who suffer the most. Transferred back to his old company, now on operations in the Matobo Hills, Williams's moment of personal crisis arrived when he was forced to witness the cold-blooded shooting of an unarmed civilian suspected, on the flimsiest of evidence, of being a "terrorist collaborator". Sickened by the casual brutality of this act he attempted to lay a charge against his gung-ho Commanding Officer (who, in another incident, had "accidentally" shot one of his own black soldiers while on a training exercise) - a brave but ultimately futile gesture which saw him being hastily re-assigned to another unit.
If this makes the book sound a trifle sombre it is anything but. Williams is a sharp and funny observer with a style that manages to be both tongue-in-cheek and buttonholing at the same time while possessing the kind of wry intelligence that makes you glad he was around to keep tabs on events.
Vividly evocative, this is a wise, colourful and at times touching account of what it was like growing up in a country torn apart by war."
Anthony Stidolph, The Witness

The Author
Paul Williams was born in England but grew up in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. He completed his PhD in English at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, and has lived and taught in South Africa, the Middle East, Europe and the USA. In 2001 his mystery novel 'The Secret of Old Mukiwa' won the Zimbabwe International Book Fair prize for young adult fiction. He is Professor of English and Humanities at South Florida Community College and lives in the USA with his wife and son.~Soldier Blue|ISBN-13 9780868547145|~11674~12383~~

Tatenda: Reminiscences of the Zimbabwe Bush - Anne Moore~The author who had served a life time career as a National Parks Warden in various Zimbabwe National Parks for several years, has written a series of interesting short stories reminiscencing of her experiences in visiting the parks. It will appeal to all those who have lived in, visited, or who are interested in Africa. The wildlife and wilderness in Africa will always inspire those who love nature.The book also includes colour photographs of places, people and wildlife.
ISBN 978-1-9062-55-15-2. 2008. Softcover, 86 pages.

Contributions from the sale of this book will go towards the well-being of 'Tatenda' - an orphaned black rhino calf, in Imire Safari Ranch in Zimbabwe.
(This publication should not be confused with another recent publication of the same name by a different author)~Anne Moore (nee Timson), was born in 1932 in southern England, and spent most of her childhood days in Kent during the 1939-45 second world war. A scholarship to a dancing academy saw the start of a short career in dancing. All this seemed to be an unlikely beginning to what was later to become her future life's work based on African wildlife.This all began when she met and married Rhodesian-born Robin and in 1954 accompanied him to a new life in Africa, where he introduced her to the wildlife and wild areas that were so much apart of his heritage. Much of Robin and Anne's early-married life was spent in the (then) Sabi Valley of Rhodesia where a love of the bush and its wildlife developed in Anne.The following years, during which they had three children, saw them moving to suburbia in order to further Robin's career and to raise their young family. Then, in 1968, Anne commenced working for the Department of National Parks and Wild Life Management that set her course for the following 24 years, during which time the country's name changed to Zimbabwe. This career and what developed as her life's passion, peaked in 1990 when Anne was named Zimbabwe's Tourism Personality of the Year and, in 1992, when she was nominated for that country's Communicator of the Year. She retired from Parks in late 1992 to take up a contract for similar work in Botswana. In 2004, Anne and Robin moved to Western Australia to be near their children and their families.

ISBN 978-1-9062-55-15-2. 2008. Softcover, 86 pages.~Tatenda|ISBN 9781906255152|~11674~11989~~

Tengwe Garden Club: My Story of Zimbabwe - Ann Rothrock Beattie~North Carolina native Ann Rothrock Beattie has produced an autobiographical account of her unique and endearing love story that began on a safari in Zimbabwe, Africa. Her safari love affair eventually lands her in rural Africa on a tobacco farm, where she deals with the challenges and delights of living in Tengwe, Zimbabwe. In her memoir, Ann Beattie gives an open and honest account of various wildlife encounters, a charming community life and the many people she came to know during her time there, and, of course, the love of her life Dave Beattie. The story is set against the backdrop of the unstable tyrannical rule of dictator Robert Mugabe. Mrs. Beattie, her family and their community are ultimately forced to make difficult decisions when their lives and lands come into jeopardy as a result of the political climate in which they live.
Lulu 2008. ISBN: 978-0-6152-0073-6. Softback 153 pages.~~Tengwe Garden Club|ISBN 9780615200736|~11674~11826~~

The Flame Lily Weeps: An African Autobiography - Dr Ross G Cooper~This unique autobiography describes the life of a white Zimbabwean growing up in Rhodesia, Zimbabwe-Rhodesia and subsequently after the attainment of independence on 18th April 1980, in Zimbabwe, and, thereafter, his move and settling in the UK. It provides a comfortable, quick read and is not meant to be an exhaustive, family, historical or political account. Instead, it was born from a desire to reveal and elucidate the perspectives and truth of poignant issues in the country's transition from a British colony to an independent, one-party state. This book gives an insight into the build up to the political and economic anarchy that has thrown Zimbabwe into a financial abyss and that transformed the bread basket of Africa - a one time flourishing country into a land ravaged by hunger, disease and poverty.
ISBN 978-1-905809-53-0. April 2009. Softback 124 pages.

NB - Author has also written The Mouldings of Chipinge: A historical and personal account of life in Rhodesia and Zimbabwe.~~The Flame Lily Weeps|ISBN 9781905809530|~11674~12528~~

The Kevin Woods Story: In the Shadow of Mugabe's Gallows - Kevin Woods~Kevin worked as a double agent for the South African apartheid government and Robert Mugabe's Central Intelligence Organization in the 80s. As head of Mugabe's CIO in Matabeleland, Kevin had first hand knowledge and was privy to much of what went on within the ranks of Mugabe's regime and 5th Brigade's atrocities. After Kevin was compromised for his anti-ANC activities, he was incarcerated in the notorious Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison (Harare) for 20 years, five of which were spent naked on death row (was weighed every Thursday so they could adjust the hangman's noose). His release was pleaded to Mugabe by none other than Nelson Mandela in the 90s but this fell on deaf ears. Finally, during 2006, he received a presidential pardon. Kevin now lives in South Africa and has launched a well-received career in motivational speaking. This is his story. 2 Editions available - Hardcover and Softback
328 pages, photos.
ISBN-13 9781920143145. 2007 Hardback. Now 'Out of Print', very few copies left.
ISBN-13 9781920143374. 2008 Softback

** Super Special Sale copies - Dispatching from UK only **~30 Degrees Publishing
ISBN-13 9781920143145 Hardback Nov 2007
ISBN-13 9781920143374 Softback Sept 2008
328 pages.

"He who tells the truth is not well liked" - Bambara of Mali proverb

Kevin Woods was sentenced to death in Zimbabwe and jailed for twenty years by Robert Mugabe. For more than five years of his detention he was held in the shadow of Mugabe's gallows, cut off from the world, naked and in solitary confinement. He had been a senior member of Mugabe's dreaded Central Intelligence Organization, the CIO, and was jailed for committing politically motivated offences, on behalf of the white South African government, against the ANC in Zimbabwe.

From Mugabe's confidant to condemned prisoner he recounts his life on the edge, as a double agent. He explains the desolation of being abandoned by South Africa when he was compromised and he details his lone fight to maintain his humanity, self-dignity and sanity in a prison system that belongs to the Middle Ages. Removed from society and with his fundamental human rights arbitrarily withdrawn, Woods has been there, done that, and has got the T-shirt when it comes to stress, utter hopelessness and coping while under the most desperate conditions imaginable.

This book will inspire you to take an introspective look at your own life, your careers, your aspirations and ambitions. His story, unlike so many others has a happy ending with him hugging his now-adult children and meeting former President Nelson Mandela being the highlights.

"Maybe I made it through those 7,140 days and nights by fooling myself so often. Maybe it was my God. Maybe it was stubbornness and my knowledge that Mugabe and his cronies wanted nothing more than for me to die, of natural causes in that dismal place. (He couldn't just send the goons to kill me, you see? There were too many people and a few governments as well who were watching.) I did not want to give Mugabe that gratification, and that was serious motivation for me to persevere.

Whatever it was, through all those years of having my hopes eroded time after time, just like the waves, I made it. Whether I am sane or not (I figure this is debatable) I did it. We can all do it no matter how dark things get, no matter how sad, how desperate, how fucking morbid.

Reach inside and strive to get through, even if it's only 'till tomorrow'."

"I have lost so many years of my life that my future is now behind me." It is not a statement of self-pity, but of truth.

This book is not for the squeamish-it tells of murder, genocide, cruelty and torture, political duplicity and betrayal-and of the baseness and cheapness of life in an African prison ... and Africa.It is a story of hopelessness ... and hope.

Woods on his sentencing ...

I was sentenced to death on 18th December 1988. They don't use the words, "You are sentenced to death" in Zimbabwe - the judge just said, "You are convicted of murder with constructive intent for which there is only one sentence." Then, he just stood up and walked out. I was alone in court that day.

Woods on death row ...

I was locked up naked in Chikurubi's death row for five years, alone and in a cell twenty-three hours of every day. I could not see if it was day or night and I was not allowed into the sunlight in the exercise yard. During my exercise time I would stand and gaze down the corridor leading to the exercise yard with such a profound longing to feel the sun's warmth on my naked body that I'd think sometimes my heart would squeeze itself shut with heartache ...
It was close, so close to despair so many times. I made a rope out of shredded blanket, but somehow I endured, often just till the next day. "Just till tomorrow, Woodsie," I'd tell myself. "Just till tomorrow."

Woods on jail ...

For one of my wife's visits the power was out and we were allowed to visit in a interview room, separated only by wire mesh. My heart broke as I sat there, smelling her perfume, seeing her clearly for the first time in years, hearing her voice without distortion, and most of all being able to hold onto her little finger which she stuck through the mesh. For dear life I clung to that pinkie, the only contact with another human being in all those years, the tip of her pinkie, and I was like the proverbial drowning man, clutching to that straw for all I could.

Woods on his release ...

Vincent van Gogh painted the picture that inspired Don McLean to sing Vincent with its haunting lines `Starry, starry night'. I have always loved that song and it holds many memories for me - none more poignant than that night of 1 st July 2006 when after midnight on the second, I looked at a crystal-clear sky filled with stars so near and so bright ... for the first time in twenty years.
Barry handed me a cell phone. "What do I do with this?" I asked. He showed me how to switch it on and the rest of that day dissolved into phone call after phone call, starting with my children, whom I hadn't spoken to for nearly two decades.~Select cover version||The Kevin Woods Story (HB)|ISBN-13 9781920143145|The Kevin Woods Story (SB)|X ISBN-13 9781920143374|The Kevin Woods Story (SB) Sale price|ISBN-13 9781920143374 Sale|~11674~11635~ Kevin Woods, Chikurubi Prison, CIO~

The Last Safari: A Season of Discovery in Zimbabwe - Bruce VanBuskirk~This is the true story of an American hunter, Bruce VanBuskirk, who spent the 2001 season living a dream, working on safari in Zimbabwe. Full of fascinating characters, adventure and excitement, it also deals truthfully with the hard lessons learned about the future of hunting in Africa. This is a day by day description of the events, places and people who make the safari industry work in Zimbabwe. You'll travel the bush with the author, getting to know the professional hunters and clients, company employees, local villagers, and learn just how much work it takes to run a safari operation in a third world country. Fuel shortages, poaching, war vets seizing property, broken rifles, snakes, charging elephants, and wounded buffalo were all in a day's work. This is a rare look at the behind the scenes efforts to make a client's dreams come true. This deluxe paperback features non stop action, observations on the current political situation in Zimbabwe, as well as the stories of citizens forced to deal with the realities of life in Africa.
ISBN-13 9781420887709, Paperback~Authorhouse, 2007
ISBN-13 9781420887709, Paperback

About the Author
Born in the mid 1950's, the author learned to hunt at an early age at the family farm in southern Michigan. He received his first gun, a gift from his grandfather, at the age of 11. It was a single shot 16 gauge which was used to wreak havoc on the game bird population for many years, until finances allowed for more expensive and sophisticated shotguns.

After college the author entered the field of law enforcement, serving as a police officer for eight years in southern Michigan, after which he moved to Indianapolis to further his career on a larger Department. He joined the SWAT Team in 1989, serving first as a sniper, then as Sniper Coordinator.

The author served as the SWAT Team commander for the last two years of his tenure, retiring from the Team in 1999. His Law Enforcement career ended in 2001, and shortly afterwards he left for Africa, his fourth safari.

The author's hunting career began at about the age of three, when his grandfather convinced him to tie a carrot onto a string and attempt to catch rabbits at the family farm. He learned to bird and deer hunt in the farmland of southern Michigan, and as he got older he traveled to western states to hunt mule deer and antelope, as well as moose and bear in Canada. He made his first safari in 1994, hunting in South Africa just before the election of Nelson Mandela to the office of President of South Africa.

The author currently manufactures motorcycle accessories under the business name Howlingdog, and enjoys hunting and camping in the mountains of Arizona when he can find some free time.

Extracts

Kalsiga, the river camp, was to become my favorite place in all Africa. Located deep inside the concession, it was a place where one always kept his rifle handy, and offered constant contact with game as well as isolation from anything resembling modern man.

The camp was located at roughly the far east end of the same escarpment on which Main Camp had been built. Getting to the camp involved driving over 26 kilometers of a most brutal road, and every single trip was an exercise in self abuse.

The road meandered across the top of the escarpment for about 20 kilometers and then headed down the far side towards a small delta formed in the Ume River, The normal routine was to stop and pick up a Game Scout at the beginning of the Kalsiga road, as government regulations require one be with the hunting party at all times. The Game Scouts were employed by the Tribal Council, and lived in a small compound of block buildings just off the main tar road.

After traveling for many kilometers through alternating thick bush and relatively open areas, during which deep sand would require 4 wheel drive to pass, the road basically ended and a trail of sorts wound down the rocky side of the escarpment. At the terminus of the road proper was a breathtaking view of the river valley below. First gear was the only way to travel the next portion, and the going was slow and brutal on man and machine alike as the trail was navigated.

Once down off the escarpment the road reappeared and became fairly smooth and level, winding through an area of sparse jess until within about two kilometers of the river. At that point the vegetation appeared as a wall of green with a jungle like appearance, thick and heavy. Just before camp the road dropped steeply and there was always a significant drop in temperature as the level of the river was reached.

I first saw this place three years earlier, and it had been a mere fly camp at the time, with a couple of large surplus military style tents and the kitchen, but nothing more... I took elephant from here, and once spent a long cold night in a pit dug into the riverbed calling hyenas. As the moon finally rose high enough to illuminate the bait my PH realized it was gone. We left the pit to investigate and discovered a lion had taken the zebra quarter out from under our noses.

Now Kalsiga was a permanent installation. Situated along the riverbank under a high canopy of Acacia Albida trees, 4 chalets had been built, all on stilts to protect them when the river flooded during the rainy season. Each chalet stood about two meters off the ground, and consisted of a reed wall about 1 meter high covered with a thatch roof. The floor had been made by laying sheet metal roofing material down on top of the stilts and covering it with about 2 inches of cement. It made for a very solid, smooth floor that was easy to sweep. On the back side of the chalet was a shower area that had a separate entrance, allowing the waiter to fill the shower without disturbing the client's privacy.

A communal dining chalet had been built closer to the river bank, also raised on stilts, and it could comfortable seat a dozen or so. There had also been a bar and concrete fire pit closer to the river, but the floods from the previous rainy season had removed about 50 feet of the river bank and wiped out these structures.

Off to one side of the compound, separated by a reed wall, was the kitchen, which was built of concrete block and covered with a tin metal roof. .......~The Last Safari|ISBN-13 9781420887709|~11674~11550~~

The Memoirs of George Selby: A Journey through Rhodesia to Zimbabwe - George Selby & Lillian van Velden~This is an ordinary man's extraordinary adventure which lasted from the hey days of the nineteen fifties, through the sixties when the "winds of change" traversed the continent of Africa, then through the seventies and the Rhodesian War, during which he served as a police reservist, then to the dying moments of that wonderful country that he called home.
ISBN 0954948866, 2007. Softback 292 pages.~~The Memoirs of George Selby|ISBN 0954948866|~11674~12232~~

The Penny-a-line Man - Reg Shay~The popular image of journalistic life in days gone by may well be of the heaving newsroom, populated by harassed men with press passes stuck in the bands of their trilbies, but what of the life of the roving freelancer, scribing under his own steam?Orphaned Reg Shay began working life in Fleet Street during the Second World War as a messenger before moving up to the news desk and later becoming a South London court reporter. He subsequently moved to Rhodesia for family health reasons where he became a respected and sought-after international war and political correspondent writing for, amongst others, the Evening Standard, Time, Life, and the Mirror; broadcasting regularly on America’s ABC News (radio) and ITN’s News at Ten.From death-defying excursions up the crocodile- infested Zambezi river (he survived a croc attack), to becoming one country’s ‘most wanted man’ for untrue alleged espionage activities; he was directly responsible for saving many children‘s lives by discovering a Rhodesian "concentration camp" and then forcing its immediate closure. He covered four African civil wars over an nineteen-year period, from the Congo to Mozambique, Rhodesia and Angola. During the latter, Henry Kissinger relied solely on Shay’s Associated Press reports.This is the story of a life, filmic in its intensity and excitement and uncompromising in honesty and principles (he twice resigned in a personal battle against media censorship), rendered all the more amazing for the fact that Shay appears to have more lives than a clowder of cats.
Athena Press, 2006. ISBN 1844017133. Softback 436 pages~~The Penny-a-line Man|ISBN 1844017133|~11674~11672~~

The Victorians: Memories of South Africa and Rhodesia - Tony Seward~A fast moving autobiography of a former member of the British South Africa Police in Rhodesia. A story of the terrorist war in Rhodesia and his part in that war. Tony Seward attested into the B.S.A. Police in 1958 and served for twenty-five years in the force before retiring in 1983 as an Inspector. After his retirement in 1983 Tony took up the position of site manager of the Kyle boat club near Masvingo in the new Zimbabwe. He then tells of the deterioration of the economy and the eventual land invasions by former terrorists and others hungry for land, up to the time he had to leave the country in 2004 for security and safety reasons.
ISBN 1-4120-9147-0, Paperback. 254 pages~Trafford Publishing 2006, ISBN 1-4120-9147-0
Paperback. 254 pages

This is the autobiography of a former member of the B.S.A. Police, of Rhodesia, a force with a long and distinguished reputation as one of the finest police forces in the world.

Born in London England in 1940 Tony Seward attested into the B.S.A. Police on the 17th November 1958 and served for twenty-five years in the force before retiring in 1983 as an Inspector.

They were turbulent times in the Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. Harold Macmillan*s *winds of change* had turned into a raging storm of political unrest, which swept through Africa culminating in an all out terrorist war, which eventually engulfed the entire region. Tony found himself thrown into this turmoil and became a reluctant rebel when the Rhodesian Government declared unilateral independence on the 11th November 1965. Terrorist incursions into the country were increasing and there was no time to reflect upon the rights or wrongs of the Ian Smith Governments unilateral declaration of independence.

He spent much of his service in Victoria Province in the South of Rhodesia and most of that in the South Eastern area at Vila Salazar, a police post on the Mocambique border where the countries Political restricted were being held in camps.

He grew to love the Gonarezhou area, its wild life and its people and made many friends in Rhodesia, South Africa and Mocambique during his service in that area. As the terrorist war crept Southwards Tony cultivated these friends as willing agents for the Rhodesian Security branch.

He tells of the tragedies and triumphs of the country then attacked from all directions and the eventual take over of the Rhodesian Government by the Mugabe led Zimbabwe African National Union in April 1980.

After his retirement in 1983 Tony moved to take up the position of site manager of the Kyle boat club near Masvingo in the new Zimbabwe.

He tells of the deterioration of the economy and the eventual land invasions by former terrorists and others hungry for land.

Personal concerns for his own safety and security resulted in Tony returning to the United Kingdom in 2004 and his struggles to get into the *system*. He tells of his efforts to re establish old friendships and how he has managed to adjust to his new environment after fifty-seven years in Africa.~The Victorians|ISBN 1412091470|~11674~11306~British South Africa Police, BSAP, terrorist terrorism~

Useless Worthless Priceless - Cheryl Clary~An extraordinary awe-inspiring true story of the captivating journey of a child to woman 'victim', who endured war, betrayal, and debilitating addiction, which will undoubtedly connect with your every emotion.
Trafford 2007. ISBN 1425129528, Paperback 333 pages~Trafford 2007
ISBN 1425129528
Paperback
333 pages

About the Book

This is the story of a young girl's heartbreak, firstly shattered by those around her calling her 'night-ape' and 'problem child', and then in the cruellest of ways seeing her trust smashed upon the rocks of life when she was raped by the very man/boy she gave her most treasured possession... her heart.

The mould was set; Cheryl's parents often challenged her identity within the family because they said she made their lives miserable and intolerable. Raised in a well respected family in the town of Umtali, Rhodesia, her parents slept away their embarrassment and disgust at her being raped, whilst Cheryl hugged her bruised body and soul, and the shame close to her.

The broken and spiritually ravaged Cheryl survived the Rhodesian War, and the loss of people she loved. As a victim, she attracted abusers, and married a cruel, controlling man. As a refugee in South Africa, unwelcome and unexpectedly pregnant her life spiralled into despair and emotional isolation.

After years of abuse, Cheryl divorced her alcoholic husband and began a new life with her two children. Five years later, he returned, sober and kind, she remarried him, and they relocated to England. He betrayed her again with alcohol, and Cheryl gave up. She reverted to the role of victim again, and drank her despair and pain away; she shunned reality and life, and crossed the threshold into oblivion.

In her own words, Cheryl tells how she went to hell in a nightmare relationship, and fought back to become a successful author.

About the Author

I decided not to use this space to tell you where I was born and raised, nor any other details of my life, as all this and much more is what my book is about. Instead I will tell you about me, and why I chose to write my story.

I am not famous, and have no claim to celebrity status, and I had only ever written my book in my mind. I haven't done anything to attract the interest of the public, and there is no reason you would have ever heard my name until now.

Throughout the years, as each challenge and experience bludgeoned its way into my life, I thought 'I must write about that'. So many of us share experiences that we feel isolated in, and which have perceived or real stigma's attached, so we keep them to ourselves. The many times I felt that way, I endeavoured to find any type of material, seeking corroboration, empathy, even a general understanding. All I found were statistics.

I have now written my story, in the hope that as well as being an exciting, emotional and excellent read, that it will be an inspiration to some, a comfort and support to others, and entertainment for the rest. ~Useless Worthless Priceless|ISBN 1425129528|~11674~11561~rape, Cheryl Clary~

West of the Moon: A Game Ranger at War - Ron Selley~A sweeping canvas that evokes a bygone era of the 1940s' colonial Natal through to the cruel intensity of the 'Bush War' that ravaged Rhodesia in the 1970s. In two distinct parts - the author's earlier years - an idyllic childhood spent roaming and hunting among the empty, rolling hills of northern Zululand; of the inaccessible St Lucia waterway; of building railway bridges into the wild interior, ..... to the sweaty cantinas and backstreets of Lourenço Marques - of a time that slipped away …The 2nd part recounts the author's move north across the Limpopo where his love of adventure, hunting and the bushveld lead him to Rhodesia. He becomes a game ranger, dealing with 'problem animals' in the farming areas and the escalating terrorist war in the Gona re Zhou National Park in the beleaguered south-eastern Lowveld of the country......
"Of the more modern tragedy of colonial Africa, we read a 'hands on' account of the last ignominy of nationalist African political urges against defenceless wild animals." - Gordon Cundill. Author of 'A Hunter's Africa' and 'Some Lions I Have Met'.
ISBN 9781920143329. March 2009. Softback. 284 pages, 234 x 153mm / 6 x 9~30 Degrees Publishing
ISBN 9781920143329
Paperback
234 x 153mm / 6 x 9
284 pages
200 b/w photos, 4 maps

The Book
From colonial northern Zululand to guerrilla warfare in the Gona re Zhou of Rhodesia-a vast panorama of southern Africa

West of the Moon - A Game Ranger at War is a sweeping canvas that evokes a bygone era of the 1940s' colonial Natal through to the cruel intensity of the 'Bush War' that ravaged Rhodesia in the 1970s. The book is in two distinct parts - Part 1 chronicles the author's earlier years - an idyllic childhood spent roaming and hunting among the empty, rolling hills of northern Zululand; of the inaccessible St Lucia waterway; the nostalgia of yellow fever trees; of building railway bridges into the wild interior; of colonial scallywags and native witchcraft; of sugar estates and poaching; of shipwrecks and the sweaty cantinas and backstreets of Lourenço Marques - a time that slipped away.

Part 2 recounts the author's move north across the Limpopo where his love of adventure, hunting and the bushveld lead him to Rhodesia. He becomes a game ranger, dealing with 'problem animals' in the farming areas and the escalating terrorist war in the Gona re Zhou National Park in the beleaguered south-eastern Lowveld of the country. Trying to care for an environment and the animals that depend upon it, while the people around commit barbaric acts in the name of political ideology, brutally awakens the author to the reality of the disintegration of an organized colonial subcontinent.

The Author
Ron Selley was born in 1947 and grew up in Zululand, South Africa. In the wilds of northern Natal, he started hunting at the age of eight and operated a boat on Lake St Lucia, his 'home turf', at the age of ten. He became fluent in Zulu, Afrikaans and French. In 1975, with his thirst for adventure and an overriding love of the bush, he moved to Rhodesia, where he joined the Department of National Parks & Wildlife as a game ranger, operating in the Lomagundi, the Zambezi Valley and the Gona re Zhou during the height of the Rhodesian Bush War. He returned to South Africa in 1979, hunted professionally for a period and joined KwaZulu Nature Conservation, in charge of the Kosi Lake system and Northern Beach areas. He now lives Lambert's Bay on the west coast of South Africa, running a variety of businesses-boat-charter, ship painting and cleaning services. He enjoys black-powder hunting, is an avid collector of World War II trucks and tanks, owns two Rolls Royces, which are in daily use, and is the station commander of National Sea Rescue Station 24A.~West of the Moon|X ISBN 9781920143329|~11674~12459~~

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun - Peter Godwin~A follow up to 'Mukiwa: A White Boy In Africa'.
Ten years after leaving Zimbabwe, Peter Godwin is living in Manhattan when he is summoned home because his father is dying. He finds his birthplace, formerly the breadbasket of an entire continent, entering a vortex of violent chaos and famine, prey to goon squads, presided over by a paranoid kleptocracy. But his parents, who emigrated there from England after the Second World War, refuse to leave. It is against this backdrop that Godwin discovers a fifty-year-old family secret: his father's identity in an invention. This Anglo-African colonial in a safari suit and desert boots is, in fact, a Polish Jew whose family was torn apart by the Holocaust. 'When a crocodile eats the sun' is how some remote tribespeople of Zimbabwe explain a solar eclipse: the celestial crocodile, they say, briefly consumes the life-giving star as a warning that he is much displeased with man below - the very worst of omens. Peter Godwin's powerful, moving memoir describes dark times and dark aspects of human behaviour spanning two continents and half a century; it is a searing portrayal of a son's effort to rescue his family, and a family's struggle to belong in a hostile land.
ISBN 0330433695, hardback. 416 pages. Mar 2007.~Publisher: Picador (2 Mar 2007)
Hardcover: 416 pages
ISBN-10: 0330433695
ISBN-13: 978-0330433693

The story of the disintegration of a family, set against the collapse of a country, a sequel of sorts to Peter Godwin's award-winning and bestselling memoir, Mukiwa.

Peter Godwin, an award-winning writer, is on assignment in Zululand (South Africa) when he is summoned by his mother to Zimbabwe, his birthplace. His father is seriously ill; she fears he is dying. Godwin finds his country, once a post-colonial success story, descending into a vortex of violence and racial hatred incited by an embattled dictator.

His father recovers, but over the next few years, Godwin travels regularly between his family life in Manhattan USA and the increasing chaos of Zimbabwe, where inflation runs so fast that the currency can't keep up; where land seizures have made famine a real prospect; and where his parents, emigrants from post-war England, are refusing to abandon their home. It is against this backdrop that Godwin discovers a fifty-year-old family secret, one which changes everything he thought he knew about his father, and his own place in the world.

'When a crocodile eats the sun' is how some remote tribes explain the solar eclipse that coincides with Zimbabwe's torment; a celestial crocodile, they say, briefly consumes the life-giving star to demonstrate his displeasure with man below. In a land in which the forces of light are apparently giving way to those of the dark, it seems the very worst of omens. Peter Godwin's book combines vivid reportage, moving personal stories and revealing memoir, and traces his family's quest to belong in hostile lands - a quest that spans three continents and half a century.

Reviews
'It is the down-to-earth, finely observed description of Zimbabwe's collapse and an elderly couple's dignity in dealing with it that really carries this book' Graham Boynton, Telegraph

'It's a fine book, with the love and anger that Godwin feels towards Africa and his father moderated by a mordant, laconic style.' The Times

'In beautifully measured prose he manages to both personalise the inexorable break down of civilisation and destruction of a society, and untangle the complex historical forces behind it…this outstanding memoir' TNT

'Affecting' Independent

'If any white belongs to Africa, it is Godwin…His passion for the continent is the real thing…Peter Godwin's is a wonderful book…It is beautifully written, packed with insight and free of rancour' Literary Review

'An intimate and tender portrait of a rather remarkable marriage' Observer

'In one of a succession of powerful, poignant scenes, he accompanies his father to the bakers' Telegraph

'Compellingly written, it's a brilliant exploration of belonging and identity, homeland and family by a writer at the peak of his powers' Sainsbury's magazine

~When a Crocodile Eats the Sun|ISBN-13 9780330433693|~11674~11432~~

Where Flamelilies Grow - Graham Longstaff~An autobiography. A life story of a young British boy, who moved to the mystical and exciting continent of Africa in the 1960's, and covers the changes in lifestyle, cultures and adaptation to life in Africa, telling the story in a way that the man in the street can relate to. The book covers the author's life in Zambia, Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, South Africa and Namibia, including his schooling, National Service in Rhodesia (Greys Scouts), the highs and lows in his life during the turbulent years of the Rhodesian bush war, the cultural differences, the political & economic changes in Southern Africa, his marriage and divorce, and the events leading to his being thrown out of Zimbabwe in 1996 and finally his return to the UK.
ISBN 1413774601 260 pages (July 25, 2005)~~Where Flamelilies Grow|ISBN 1413774601|~11674~10994~Where Flamelilies Grow - Graham Longstaff~

Without Honour - Robb JW Ellis~Without Honour is the true story of a white policeman in post-independant Zimbabwe. Join Robb as he details the brief history of Rhodesia and Zimbabwe, taking you to the beginnings of the dissident problem in the Matabeleland Province in early 1982 - the ambush and killings of two of his own friends - the tracking and ensuing gunfight with dissidents and the death of a work colleague. Witness the horrendous scenes as Robert Mugabe lets his North Korean-trained Fifth Brigade loose on the Matabele population. How Robb attempts to handle normal police work in the direct result of these heinous acts, with little or no support or direction. The discovery of dead bodies and the witnessing of the destruction of these - nothing makes sense anymore. What will he do? Spill the beans or walk away? Witness a surprise meeting that Robb has with Robert Mugabe at a luncheon and experience the subsequent decisions Robb has to make as he serves a government that is determined to serve the population "Without Honour" ...
Lulu 2007, Softback 248 pages.~Robb Ellis, 2007
Softback, 248 pages
B/W photos

This is the true story of a young White Policeman in Mugabe's Zimbabwe in the early 1980s. It details his funny as well as horrific experiences as a Policeman and prosecutor. He becomes embroiled in the genocide of the time. At a time when the Western Media was lauding Mugabe as a moderate, Robb and other Policemen were picking up the dead bodies and parts of bodies of people murdered by his 5th Brigade and CIO (Central Intelligence Organisation). One day Mugabe sees him at a parade and calls him over to speak to him. In the end, he gives up his Police career due to threats.

Note - Fifth Brigade, drawn from 3500 ex-ZANLA combatants, was different to all other army units at the time, in that it was not integrated into the army. It was answerable only to the Prime Minister (Robert Mugabe), and not to the normal army command structures. Their codes, uniforms, radios and equipment were not compatible with other existing army units. This 'private army' killed between 20,000-30,000 people, the majority were of the Matabele tribe. In 1988, Mugabe announced an amnesty for all dissidents, and later extended the amnesty to include all members of the security forces who had committed human rights violations.

Reviews

Review from Folksnyheter by Kenneth Walgren

"Fuck off! You fucking racist! Get yourself out of my country!"

To Robb WJ Ellis, a young white recently appointed policeman in Zimbabwe just after Robert Mugabe's accession to power, it was soon made clear what the new potentates thought of him. At the same time that Mugabe was being lauded by much of the rest of the world, his secret armies were murdering thousands of his political opponents and the ethnic cleansing of the country's white inhabitants continued.

Kenneth Wallgren from Swedish newspaper Folkets Nyheter reviews Robb WJ Ellis' book "Without Honour", a unique documentation from within African politics in practice.....

"The war was over and Robert Mugabe was the new leader of the country as its Prime Minister.

Independence came and went. The family stayed. I breathed a sigh of relief...

Mugabe had addressed the nation and had offered a "hand of reconciliation". He wasn't interested in what colour you were. He wasn't interested in who you fought for pre-1980… He didn't even care who you voted for in the election - he had secured 63% of the voters in the election that brought him and his party to power.

If you wanted to stay, you could stay. He just wanted people who would help build Zimbabwe into the pride of Africa.

And do you know the strange thing about his speech? We all believed it. We all swallowed it - hook, line and sinker."

The excerpt above is taken from "Without Honour", an book about Rhodesia, a grand white civilization that in 1980 was renamed Zimbabwe and subsequently turned into a black banana republic. The author, Rhodesian Robb WJ Ellis was working as a young policeman after the country's transition to Zimbabwe. The title of the book alludes to how Robert Mugabe is serving his country without honour.

Ellis chronologically depicts the development of Rhodesia up until the Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) in 1965, which shocked the British and the rest of the world since no British colony had declared itself independent since the 4th of July 1776 when the United States of America was founded.

Next, Ellis tells about the Bush War in Rhodesia during the 1970's when several military elite forces were created, proving the Rhodesians to be the best soldiers in the world. He also describes the black terrorist groups and mentions how they were backed by the Soviet Union, China and North Korea. In his book he reminds us of the elements that took over after the White rule, elements who devoted themselves to robbery, murder and inconceivable violence against their fellow citizens, their political opponents in particular.

For at the same time as the leaders, media and leftwing intellectuals of the Western world unreservedly were lauding Robert Mugabe, the new black leader of Zimbabwe, Robb Ellis was forced to collect the body parts of people who were murdered by Robert Mugabe's North Korea trained 5th brigade and intelligence service (CIO). In the 1980's between 20,000 and 30,000 Zimbabweans of the Matabele tribe became the victims of genocide perpetrated by Mugabe and his supporters who were Shona, the largest tribe in Zimbabwe.

Criminal and "radical" elements took care of politics and the world at large had no objections. On the contrary! From then on, matters could only deteriorate.

Following an explanation of the country's historical background, Robb Ellis gives his personal reflections. He begins by explaining how it was emotionally very painful for him to write down his story. His dream had been to become - and remain - just an ordinary policeman. He wanted to solve crimes and make law-abiding citizens out of criminals. But it was not going to be as simple as that. Just like every good policeman he did his job and left his political opinions at home. He was young, had a sense of duty and did his job until his black superiors called him a racist, considered him to be a security risk and forced him into house-arrest.

In his book Robb Ellis describes a meeting with a representative of Zimbabwe's secret intelligence service, CIO. It took place in the beginning of the 1980's on the scene of a crime when Ellis was investigating a case in which a teacher had been murdered in cold blood by soldiers from Mugabe's secret army in front of his young pupils. Before the shooting of their teacher the children had been abused, threatened to death and forced to sing songs extolling the virtues of Robert Mugabe and his party, ZANU PF.

This was just the beginning of the witch hunt of whites in Zimbabwe perpetrated by the government, a witch hunt which later on was to claim many victims. The white farmers were threatened, deprived of all of their rights and were murdered. As the number of whites fleeing the country increased further, Zimbabwe became more and more traditionally African.

So far Robb Ellis, who summarizes his story hoping that one day it will be possible for him to re-establish himself in his old home country. This is a hope he shares with many Rhodesians.

Robb Ellis is one of all of those Rhodesians who have written down their stories. Like other Rhodesians he truly loves his country. When speaking to expatriates of Rhodesia we find that their relationship to their country is passionate. Losing their country was just the same as losing a great love. That is why there are so many, many stories of every detail of the country's history and they are almost always filled with a deep longing and the dream of being able to recreate what once was. But unfortunately that dream most probably will remain just a dream.

However, there is tremendously much to learn from what befell Rhodesia. The world powers have far from ceased putting pressure on white civilizations. They would rather have them all perish before the slanderers of people of European origin are satisfied. This is why it is important also for Swedes to learn from the fact that civilizations actually can perish and that this could well happen to Sweden soon.

I urge you to read Robb Ellis' book. Even though it is apolitical, it is enormously instructive and interesting."

Readers comments

"I have never set foot in Africa, but this book made me all the more aware that the atrocities you read about elsewhere also happen in Africa. The story left me in tears and I enjoyed the book thoroughly. A very easy read."

DM (United Kingdom)

"I have just finished reading your book and wow. Very emotional and sad! I enjoy your style of writing. I kept wondering how you dealt with witnessing such atrocities. It made me realise (again) why I left (South) Africa. Call me over cautious but I would rather get out early than go through what you did. Guess I'm a scaredy cat. I was surprised that they made such racist remarks to you at work! I have been called "whitey" in SA a few times in the street and while it was tempting to yell: Screw you kaffir! (or something like that) I didn't as I am sure I would have gotten jailed or the shit kicked out of me... or even worse... a bullet in the head. I still strongly believe blacks are FAR more racist than whites.

I enjoyed the bit about Robert Mugabe. Many people always say to me that the guy is a mad lunatic like Hitler or Stalin etc but I disagree. I think to get into a position like that requires intelligence. You don't get to that position in life from being an idiot! I'm not saying I agree with what Mugabe has done to Rhodesia (far from it) but I do not think he is mad... just power hungry and willing to do whatever it takes to stay in power. I just wonder when SA gets its first dictator...

Please don't stop writing, its people like you and Jan that make a difference. It would be great to listen to you again on the Right Perspective! I really enjoy the "raw" truth and that's what I love about the internet. If you read/listen to the right sources you can get the greatest news ever. In fact, I don't even bother with reading the mainstream news/media anymore. I apply that way of thinking to all areas of my life. I have never followed the crowd nor do I plan to! "

TVD (United Kingdom)

"Overall, I found the book very good. The first bit, detailing the rise to power of Mugabe, was a little disjointing, too much jumping back and forward in time, which may lead to a little confusion with people who are not as familiar with Rhodesia's history as I am. But, once Robb gets on to his personal history in the police force, the story flowed well and held my attention.

I left Zimbabwe at the end of 1981, so I was intrigued to hear the real story of some of the events that happened after that. Robb has managed to recreate the atmosphere, feelings, and personalities such that I became emotionally involved in his story. The many pictures added spice to the story, and were very interesting.

Well done."

BB (Australia)

"I read your book and found it totally amazing, a very true and rare chronicle of the atrocities and horrors of the Gukurahundi and Mugabe's reign of terror, an awakening of reality which no true Rhodesian or Zimbabwean, or in fact, anybody connected to our country should go without reading. Reading parts of your book was also dramatic and emotional for me."

RP (United Kingdom)

"I like the book, very hard hitting. The book is one that has a specific audience ie from that part of the world."

PWC (Central Asia)

"Just a short note to say that I really enjoyed the book and will certainly recommend it. Without question, Jan was right to encourage you to write this book as it is very informative. I have learnt so much about what life was like behind the scenes, a really good history lesson. Thanks again and good luck with your next book, if you are not writing another... get to it! Maybe a fiction novel?

DY (United Kingdom)

"Have just finished (and thoroughly enjoyed) "Without Honour". It brought all sorts of memories back - some not so welcome.

I wonder whether you recall the murder of four farmers at Somabula Country Club in the mid 80s by 'dissidents'? This was the community in which I grew up.

What I cannot understand is why you never took the plunge and did an LLB. It is obvious to me that you would have made a good lawyer."

MP (Unknown Location)

Robb, I came home and reread your book, cover to cover, absorbing every bloody word!

I felt I was there with you when you found Wally dead, the single quarters, Gwanda, the kraals, yikes man, it was way too real for me! Before, I had skimmed the book on computer because of interruptions etc - but this time, it all soaked in, page by page!

I could even see you sitting with Mugabe eating, trying to do your duty but not relishing the fact, loss of friends, black, white, leaving the police force. All in all one fantastic representation of what a decent police officer with no racial bias, but a deep sense of duty to his country, went through!

A fabulous book! Honest, if it wasn't I'd tell you!

I often wondered what life was like in early post Rhodesian days and this said it all!

PM (United States)

"I finally got to read Robb's book. It has been sitting there with 10001 things going on.

It was excellent. It has a lot of emotion, anger and humanity. What surprised me was his naeivity (initially) in fact even with things falling down around him there was still the possibly, the disbelief that it could happen - so that means there is another reason.

I felt anger and sorrow with the occasional laugh. For me, what came across was that it was a release of demons within Robb but this is only part of the book and does not overwhelm it, more ripple along like a sub-tune within the overall story. Not mentioned but felt.

I would recommend it as a good read, when you can sit and immerse yourself in a book, it can cause raw emotion then it is well worth reading."

CL United Kingdom~Without Honour|8843|~11674~11521~Zimbabwe Fifth Brigade, Zimbabwe Republic Police, ZANU PF, gukurahundi~