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Every book behind our films
What each book is, how to read it with care, and where to get it: free, borrowed, from a library or second-hand. Links checked 27 October 2026.
Film 01: the books behind it
The 8 books and reports behind How Did Robert Mugabe Take Over ZANU?.
The Struggle for Zimbabwe
David Martin & Phyllis Johnson · 1981 · History
A history of the liberation war, published the year after independence.
Mugabe
David Smith & Colin Simpson · 1981 · Biography
One of the first biographies of Robert Mugabe, written in the year after independence.
With the People
Maurice Nyagumbo · 1980 · Memoir
The autobiography of Maurice Nyagumbo, one of the three men who voted to suspend Ndabaningi Sithole in Que Que prison.
A Lifetime of Struggle
Edgar Tekere · 2007 · Memoir
The memoir of Edgar Tekere, who voted to suspend Sithole in 1974 and crossed into Mozambique with Mugabe in 1975.
Re-living the Second Chimurenga
Fay Chung · 2006 · Memoir
A memoir by Fay Chung, who worked for ZANU during the war and later served as a minister in Zimbabwe’s government.
African Nationalist Leaders in Rhodesia
Robert Cary & Diana Mitchell · 1977 · Reference
A who’s who of the nationalist leaders, published while the war was still being fought.
The Great Betrayal
Ian Smith · 1997 · Memoir
The memoir of Ian Smith, prime minister of Rhodesia from 1964 to 1979.
Breaking the Silence, Building True Peace
CCJP & LRF · 1997 · Report
The report on the violence in Matabeleland and the Midlands in the 1980s, compiled from survivors’ testimony.
Film 01: read further
Books the film did not use, but that tell parts of the story it leaves out, often from another side.
Zimbabwe: Struggles Within the Struggle
Masipula Sithole · 1979 · History
A study of the splits and rivalries inside the nationalist movement, by a political scientist and brother of Ndabaningi Sithole.
Dzino
Wilfred Mhanda · 2011 · Memoir
The memoir of Wilfred Mhanda, a leader of the young guerrilla commanders who were arrested in Mozambique in 1977.
The Chitepo Assassination
David Martin & Phyllis Johnson · 1985 · History
A book-length investigation of Herbert Chitepo’s killing by the authors of The Struggle for Zimbabwe.
The Assassination of Herbert Chitepo
Luise White · 2003 · History
A historian’s study of the competing accounts of who killed Herbert Chitepo, and why the question still matters.
Serving Secretly
Ken Flower · 1987 · Memoir
The memoir of Ken Flower, head of Rhodesia’s Central Intelligence Organisation, who went on to serve independent Zimbabwe.
We never link to pirated copies. Covers come from Open Library; where none exists, PADARE draws one.