Zimbabwe's Liberation War started with incursions by tiny guerrilla groups and then built up until the settler regime finally had to negotiate a settlement in 1980. This book looks at the realities of the war and what happened afterwards, rather than at the comfortable myths. Both heroic and terrible deeds are recorded. There are both idealistic hopes and cynical compromises. It is centred on ordinary soldiers and people who sacrificed their lives to achieve advances and victories, and suffered the consequences of retreats and defeats. It is history told and experienced by the soldiers themselves, not the 'official' and 'authorized' account by leaders. This book compares strategies used by all the main players - ZIPRA, ZIPA, ZANLA and the Rhodesian Forces. It discusses the Nhari rebellion and the March 11 Movement, the Fifth Brigade and the 'dissidents'. The volume further examines the integration of the armies after 1980, analyses the politics of creating war heroes and discusses life after the war for ex-combatants.

These two companion volumes on Soldiers and Society give new perspectives on Zimbabwe's liberation struggle.

This book provides a timely reconceptualization of Zimbabwe’s anti- colonial liberation struggle, resisting simple binaries in favour of more nuanced, critical analysis. Most historiographies characterize Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle as being defined by simple bifurcations along racial, ethnic, class and ideological perspectives. This book argues that the nationalist struggle is far more complex than such simple configurations would suggest, and that many actors have been overlooked in the analysis. The book broadens our understanding by analysing the roles of a wide range of political figures, organizations, and members of the military, as well as the media and the often overlooked part that women played. Over the course of the book, the contributors also reflect on the ways in which revolutionary figures have been repainted as “sellouts”, in particular by the ZANU PF ruling party, and what that means for the country’s interpretation of their recent past. Highlighting in particular, the expertise of leading scholars from within Zimbabwe, across a range of disciplines, this book will be of interest to researchers of African history, politics and postcolonial studies.

The history of women guerilla fighters in the Zimbabwean National Liberation war (1965-80), this book provides an examination of the many different groups of women who joined the armed struggle and contributes to a feminist understanding of Zimbabwe and African history and politics. Most previously published accounts of this event in history have tended to focus on the feminine' or 'natural' role women played in it, ignoring the experiences of female guerilla fighters. This book redresses the balance, giving voice to a previously unsung group of women.'

This retrospective offers a first hand account on internal conflicts in ZANU during the 1970s, which resulted in the defeat of its left wing. Chung's narratives include her experiences in two guerrilla camps. She recalls her encounters with the charismatic Josiah Tongogara, a legendary military commander during Zimbabwe's liberation war (known as the ©second chimurenga♯), who died at the threshold to Independence. The personal recollection of a transition to national sovereignty concludes with an incisive analysis of developments after Independence. It ends with Chung's vision for the Zimbabwe of the future. Fay Chung served within the Ministry of Education in post-colonial Zimbabwe for a total of fourteen years, at the end as the Minister of Education and Culture. Her autobiographical account has the childhood experiences in colonial Rhodesia as a point of departure. Like many other Zimbabwean intellectuals she joined the liberation struggle. From the mid-1970s she worked within the ZANU-organised educational sphere.