Dinner With Mugabe

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It's a hit!

This is a well written book. Heidi make some good effort on reseach. More importantly, She laid out the facts and separated them from her own inter... (show more)

This is a well written book. Heidi make some good effort on reseach. More importantly, She laid out the facts and separated them from her own interpretations which I consider slanted and prejudicial. Robert Mugabe fought and suffered greatly for the indepence of his country and was magnanimous and generous to the Rhodesians (whites in Zimbabwe). He compares with the best of African leaders against all odds. It is clear that the difficult situation in Zimbabwe today was caused by Britain, the Rodesians, Apertheid South Africa (sabotage) and Mugabe collectively. It is high time the world knows the truth about the Land question in Zimbabwe. Has anyone wondered why the West (Britain especially) is so very much interested in Zimbabwe?! (show less)

 

 

by Omagbemi George Kakayor

No, it's a flop!

It was a very interesting book and I felt like I got some insight. It was helpful to understand what his path to the presidency was, and that made... (show more)

It was a very interesting book and I felt like I got some insight. It was helpful to understand what his path to the presidency was, and that made a good story. However, there is a lot of psychoanalysis one-step-removed. While that was interesting too...the first time...I got a bit tired of the issues about his fathers abandonment of the family and his mother perfectionism being used to explain everything. Someone could have done a tighter job of editing that stuff! (show less)

 

 

by Facebook-användare

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  A fascinating approach to a biography. Holland - not content with the simple characterisation of Mugabe by the international media as a monster - seeks to analyse the man's motivations starting from his childhood and it works. The end result is a journalistic account, mixed with psychological profiling to suggest how the character of Mugabe unfolded through the eyes of some friends and foes. Hollands approach is uncompromising - she openly criticises all of her sources, pointing out their bia... (show more)

  A fascinating approach to a biography. Holland - not content with the simple characterisation of Mugabe by the international media as a monster - seeks to analyse the man's motivations starting from his childhood and it works. The end result is a journalistic account, mixed with psychological profiling to suggest how the character of Mugabe unfolded through the eyes of some friends and foes. Hollands approach is uncompromising - she openly criticises all of her sources, pointing out their bias, but she does not apportion all blame for Zimbabwe's failure on Mugabe, just most of it. The strength is in the space she gives to her respondents' words and her deft contextualising. With thorough research and valuable insights from eyewitnesses - some of whom have since passed away - this is a unique and important addition to the literature not just on Mugabe and Zimbabwe, but on the pathology of dictators. (show less)

   

  by Facebook-användare on Jun 14, 2009 at 06:52PM

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  Interesting book with good insights into the history of Zim politics. From pre-1980 intra-party (ZANU) issues to pre and post 1980 national struggles, Heidi Holland (HH) tries to analyse R.Mugabe (RM) through the eyes and memory of the people she interviews in the book (including her own memory when she met RM in 1975).

  The book features a series of interviews mixed with commentary and analysis from HH. She also gets into RM's personal matters which include his first wife Sally, his mothe... (show more)

  Interesting book with good insights into the history of Zim politics. From pre-1980 intra-party (ZANU) issues to pre and post 1980 national struggles, Heidi Holland (HH) tries to analyse R.Mugabe (RM) through the eyes and memory of the people she interviews in the book (including her own memory when she met RM in 1975).

  The book features a series of interviews mixed with commentary and analysis from HH. She also gets into RM's personal matters which include his first wife Sally, his mother Bona, the death of his first child, etc. She tries to understand RM's past in order to explain his present behaviour. It also delves into personal and offical relationships between RM and some British personalities and officials, relationships with the Zim. Jesuits (Father Mukonori), and many others including RM's former tailor.

  The book gives more colour to the Zimbabwe picture so often potrayed through the media. In my opion, it's usually a 'half-complete, black-and-white' picture when the media show it!
  The issues in Zim are rather complex but it's fair to say that RM (and his government) have not handled matters well at all. In fact they have more than contributed to the demise of a once prosperous nation!
  The final interview is with RM himself in December 2007. Interesting, yet RM holds back on a lot of issues - and understandably, HH is 'afraid' (holding back) to ask more direct and honest question to RM.

  HH tried to psycho-analyse RM but she does admit in the book that she looks at him and the Zim situation from a Eurocentric perspective (Pg. 219 "'So you've written a Eurocentric book', to which I responded, 'Of course, I can only be who I am,...")

  It's a good book overall but some issues get repeated quite a lot. It tells an interesting story of the man who helped Create then Ruin Zimbabwe... all within 3 or so decades. Perhaps we'll never really undertstand what's in RM's mind but HH's book will go some way in contributing to that analysis.

  TN (show less)

   

  by Facebook-användare on Apr 22, 2009 at 06:58AM

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