THE ARMY AND POLITICS IN ZIMBABWE, Mujuru, the liberation fighter and kingmaker

339pp., illus., paperback, African Edition, Cambridge, 2020

A biography of General Solomon Mujuru (or Rex Nhongo), a liberation fighter in the 1970s, the first black commander of independent Zimbabwe’s national army, and an important figure in Robert Mugabe’s ruling ZANU PF party until his controversial death by fire in 2011.

"This is the book everyone interested in Zimbabwean political history has been waiting for. Its biographical lens provides unique new insight into the ruling party and military. Moving from Mugabe's rise to power in Mozambique, through the ceasefire, army integration and persecution of ZIPRA cadres in the early 1980s, to the bitter succession struggle of the 2000s, it reveals the workings of the deep state against Mugabe's adversaries." JoAnn McGregor, University of Sussex

Blessing-Miles Tendi is Associate Professor in African Politics at the University of Oxford. He is the author of Making History in Mugabe’s Zimbabwe: politics, intellectuals and the media.