Description
FIRST-HAND POLITICAL REPORTING FROM ENVELOPEBOOKS
Michael Holman’s eye-witness reports on sub-Saharan Africa for the Financial Times and other media provide rare insights into the region’s post independence successes and setbacks.
From his accounts of atrocities by Rhodesian forces in the 1960s to his interviews with those who would lead Africa into its own future and assessments of how they actually performed, Holman brings together a lifetime of running commentaries on a continent he grew up in, knows acutely and loves dearly.
Written with the benefit of unique access, Holman’s writings still hold out hope for Africa, in spite of decades of disappointment at the structural mismanagement of the nations themselves, the flawed policies of donor countries and other funders, and the hateful legacy of colonialism.
Essential reading for anyone wanting an introduction to the first half century of Africa’s post-colonial history.
Michael Holman
Michael Holman was brought up in small-town white Rhodesia, establishing his political credentials in Salisbury (now Harare) as a University of Rhodesia student leader opposing UDI in 1965. In August 1967 he was served with a government order confining him to his hometown (Gwelo, now Gweru). Allowed to leave after a year, he completed an MSc at the University of Edinburgh, before returning to Zimbabwe to work as a journalist. He narrowly escaped arrest after refusing to accept a military call-up and after three weeks in hiding, left the country illegally. He soon returned to Africa, basing himself in Lusaka, Zambia, and writing as the Financial Times‘s Africa correspondent. After moving to London he became the paper’s Africa Editor, taking early retirement in 2002 following surgery for Parkinson’s disease, but continues to visit his old beat regularly. In addition to collections of his reports, he has written three satirical novels set in the imaginary East African nation of Kuwisha.
Metadata
Publisher: EnvelopeBooks
Extent: 126 pages
Size: 203mm x 127mm (8.0” x 5.0”)
ISBN: 9781838172008
Contact: editor@envelopebooks.co.uk
Reviews
“If you want to see what a good man in Africa has done, read this book. It contains profound observations of real and lasting significance on virtually every page …”
Alexander McCall Smith
“Throughout his career as a journalist and author, Michael has been a rebel with a clear cause. He has a seamless capacity to get under the African skin, and a ruthless insight for sniffing out what’s working, even though it may not look it, and what’s an utter waste of time, even though no one else will admit. He has brought this insight and unapologetic attitude in his quest for the truth to everything he has ever done, on and for Africa. All of it is informed by a deep sense of empathy for the land of his upbringing, warts and all, and a biting sense of humour …”
John Githongo
“This book should be read by anyone who not only wants to know the history of central and southern Africa but to understand its people, black and white. They are a fine people and in Michael they have had an honest, articulate and worthy champion, as rigorous, objective and professional in this book as he was in his journalism as Africa Correspondent for the Financial Times. He has an energy and an eloquence in recording not just what he knows or has analysed but also what he feels to be the reality of his homeland’s tragic experience both under white, colonial domination and the black-led governments that followed …”
Sir Malcolm Rifkind
“Africa has no fiercer critic and no greater advocate than Michael Holman. Passionate, sometimes angry but also caring and often hilarious, Michael Holman once again delivers his trademark combination of beautiful prose and compelling story-telling. This book is both a delight and a tragic tale of hopes still unfulfilled …”
Ed Balls
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