Promotional Information

For some, Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe is a liberation hero who confronted white rule and oversaw the radical redistribution of land. For others, he is a murderous dictator who drove his country to poverty. This concise biography, in a highly successful series, reveals the complexity of the man who led Zimbabwe for its first decades of independence.

About the Author

Sue Onslow is deputy director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study at the University of London. She has written widely on British foreign policy and decolonization, and southern Africa in the Cold War era. Martin Plaut is senior research fellow at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study at the University of London. He was Africa editor, BBC World Service News, until 2013. He has since published three books on South Africa and Eritrea, including Promise and Despair: The First Struggle for a Non-Racial South Africa. He has advised the UK Foreign Office and the US State Department on African affairs.

Reviews

“In this sober biography of one of Africa’s longest-serving presidents, Onslow and Plaut provide a brief but comprehensive overview of a controversial leader who’s largely reviled in the West but often revered in Africa.…Written in lucid prose, the informative book is commendable for its balanced assessment of 37 years’ worth of very tumultuous events.”
*Publishers Weekly*

“An excellent, accessible book on the opaque life and legacy of Robert Mugabe.”

“Using paradoxes and ironies, [Onslow and Plaut] skillfully portray the dilemma Mugabe weaved Zimbabwe into: ‘support for democracy, good governance, human rights, and rule of law,’ the authors write, yet brutal repression of political opponents; the dispossession of land from former colonial white farmers, and land redistribution creating a new class of a few top official landowners.…Summing Up: Highly recommended.”
*CHOICE Reviews*

Praise for the Ohio Short Histories of Africa series:
“I am a huge fan of Ohio University Press’s Ohio Short Histories of Africa series. I use them to teach my introductory-level African politics students about oppression, resistance, liberation, and corruption, and I recommend the books to anyone who asks as an affordable and accessible introduction to a wide range of topics in African studies.”
*The Washington Post*