Roots of a Revolution: Scenes from Zimbabwe's Struggle; Black Fire!: Accounts of the Guerrilla War in Rhodesia

Two narrative accounts of Zimbabwean nationalism. Written during his years in prison, Sithole's fictionalized depiction of black political activity in the 1960s focuses on the public persona of a black intellectual not unlike himself; its gentle set-pieces picturing black-white relations are highlighted by the trial of a black man whose crime is love for a white woman. Raeburn's vignettes of guerrilla organization and fighting are much tougher on both blacks and whites: five personal accounts by guerrillas convey the atmosphere of their painful and sometimes chaotic struggle and the frightened countryside in which it is waged.