The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe

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The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe

by Peter Godwin (Goodreads Author)

4.06 of 5 stars 4.06 · rating details · 580 ratings · 130 reviews

Journalist Peter Godwin has covered wars. As a soldier, he's fought them. But nothing prepared him for the surreal mix of desperation and hope he encountered when he returned to Zimbabwe, his broken homeland.

Godwin arrived as Robert Mugabe, the country's dictator for 30 years, has finally lost an election. Mugabe's tenure has left Zimbabwe with the world's highest rate of...more

Hardcover, 384 pages

Published March 23rd 2011 by Little, Brown and Company (first published October 1st 2010)

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Apr 05, 2013 Popup-ch rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: paperback

This is the third book in a series, preceded by Mukiwa - a white boy in Africa and When a crocodile eats the sun. They are increasingly less personal and more 'political', as Godwin explores the domestic situation in Zimbabwe since independence.

This latest book starts out with the 2008 elections where most independent observers believe that the main opposition candidate won. In the aftermath of the election Mugabe initiated what became known as 'the fear', where they would seek out prominent opp...more This is the third book in a series, preceded by Mukiwa - a white boy in Africa and When a crocodile eats the sun. They are increasingly less personal and more 'political', as Godwin explores the domestic situation in Zimbabwe since independence.

This latest book starts out with the 2008 elections where most independent observers believe that the main opposition candidate won. In the aftermath of the election Mugabe initiated what became known as 'the fear', where they would seek out prominent opposition leaders and have them 'disappear'. Villages that had seen high proportion of opposition votes were burnt down. Hundreds where killed and thousands tortured. And millions starved.

The first third of the book chronicles the atrocities committed by the anciene régime in the run-up to the second round of the election. In the end the opposition candidate, Morgan Tsvangirai, stepped down (after receiving numerous death threats and several severe beatings, as well as spending months in hiding.) Thus there is only one candidate for the second round of the elections, and Mugabes thugs go around to ensure that people vote. The threat is that if people can't show the red pinkie (ink is used to prove that you've voted) it'll be cut off.

The next part describes how Peter Godwin together with his sister Georgina travel through the country at the same time as Mugabe invites Tsvangirai to form a 'Government for National Unity', or GNU. In the end he accepts and is sworn in as prime minister. However, other ministers are being arrested and harassed.

The book ends by showing how ruined and destroyed the country is (or was in 2009), and how little effort is being put into the restoration. Godwin meets the new minister of education, who works in a building without access to running water, no computers, and not even a list of all schools in the country. But on his first day in the office he's shown a brand new Mercedes limousine - a gift from Mugabe.

It's a very grim and gripping tale of how a country has been brought to the brink of ruin - and over it.

Godwin is by no means impartial - he fought on the Rhodesian side in the war of independence, and he doesn't hide his sympathies for MDC - particularly Roy Bennet, currently the treasurer, who was thrown in prison when he was named minister of agriculture. (less)

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Dec 28, 2011 emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

Reading this, I kept flashing back to, of all things, the Kol Nidre service for Yom Kippur. During it, at one particular moment, we all recite a list of all the sins we are all guilty of, a to z (arrogance to zeal for bad causes," an alphabet of woe. This book, at its core, is an alphabet of woe. It is a litany of miseries and failures and disasters and pains. It hurts to read, and reading it while taking the subway, or sitting on your comfortable couch, or wherever, is troubling and guilt-induc...more

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Dec 20, 2011 Sam rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: africa, history, kindle, non-fiction, owned, travel, review-copies, war

Godwin was born and raised in Africa and practised as a human rights lawyer in Zimbabwe before becoming a foreign news correspondent. The Fear is part history, part politics, part travelogue and is written as Godwin travels the country as events unfold, talking to Zimbabweans.

The name of the book comes from what Zimbabweans called the period between the two elections. In the first Mugabe lost and before the second the ruling party used any method possible to 'convince' people the change their vo...more

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May 20, 2011 Care rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history-africa

Short Version:

“This a book by a brave man about people who are braver still. Peter Godwin brings us closer to the filth of the Mugabe tyranny than is bearable and portrays with subtlety, authority, and respect those who, against all odds and at the cost of unimaginable suffering, continue the resistance against it. Their courage is the stuff of myth, and in Godwin they have found their chronicler.”
David Rieff

Long Version:

Some books are tough to read. Some we need to read. Peter Godwin’s newest,...more Short Version:

“This a book by a brave man about people who are braver still. Peter Godwin brings us closer to the filth of the Mugabe tyranny than is bearable and portrays with subtlety, authority, and respect those who, against all odds and at the cost of unimaginable suffering, continue the resistance against it. Their courage is the stuff of myth, and in Godwin they have found their chronicler.”
David Rieff

Long Version:

Some books are tough to read. Some we need to read. Peter Godwin’s newest, The Fear, is one of those books. By far one of the most haunting books I have ever read, this work chronicles the fate of Zimbabwe’s opposition after their victory, in a democratic election, to oust dictator Robert Mugabe after his thirty years of despotic rule. For their bravery in standing up and saying, “No more!”, followers of the MDC party faced torture, terror, intimidation, and death.

Right about the time that I felt as if this would be a book that I could not finish Peter returned to his wife and two young sons in New York, and he was feeling much the same way. While playing dinos with his boy he envisioned a chart hanging on the end of a young torture victim’s bed, upon which the nurses had put a fierce-some T-rex sticker-a symbol of the boy’s spirit. The dichotomy of his sons’ lives and those of the children in the land of his birth overwhelmed him.

In every act, every conversation, he flashed back to his homeland, and in doing so, he realized that he didn’t write this book for himself-he wrote it for the thousands of victims of thirty years of Mugabe rule in his beloved Zimbabwe. This was a story he was called to tell, for the simple reason that he could. He must bear witness to The Fear, bring the truth of it to the attention of the outside world, and bring hope to those actively engaged in their country’s fight for freedom from tyranny.

Knowing that Peter Godwin is a print journalist, I fully expected excellent reporting, and he definitely delivered. The book is well organized and any digressions from chronology are clear and well transitioned. Despite dealing with a huge cast of players, he gave enough information to remind the reader where they had met a person previously, and no person ever felt extraneous. Some levity is injected into an otherwise dark narrative in the form of an almost gallowsish humor. What I did not expect was the formidable strength of his ability to paint Zimbabwe in my mind-her stunning natural beauty, economic free-fall, collapsed civil structure, and complex society were vibrant within his prose.

Above all else, this book is about the triumph of humanity in the most wretched of circumstances. It is the story of people who stand, in the face of a reality so horrific that most of us can not even apprehend it, and refuse to be silenced, even unto death. Please read their story. Let Peter’s decision to write this difficult tale gain traction in your ability to share your reading experience with others you know. The fight in Zimbabwe is ongoing. If democracy is to prevail-and the suffering of thousands of torture victims be vindicated-the world must listen and speak and stand.

Star ranking: absolutely five stars(less)

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Apr 22, 2011 Caleb rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is my second Godwin book about Zimbabwe. If you are going to read just one, try "When a Crocodile Eats the Sun." Godwin wrote this by slipping into Zim following the 2008 presidential election which the opposition leader Tsvangirai won and long time president/dictator Mugabe lost. Mugabe's regime then cooked the results and brutalized areas that voted for the opposition leader so badly that the opposition conceded, but not before there was an agreement to form a unity government. The book's...more

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Jun 03, 2012 Marcus rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a diary of Peter Godwin’s three month visit in 2008 to his childhood home – and the horrific political violence he witnessed through the election and the subsequent ‘run off’.
It’s a difficult read – for the extent and excesses of the violence of Mugabe’s militia and ‘war vets’ on the MDC which he records. No wonder MDC dissent seems crushed right now.

I’m left wondering why Mugabe is not on trial in the Hague for war crimes against Zimbabweans. It seems ZANU-PF has remained at war, insid...more

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Aug 03, 2011 AfricaAdventureConsultants rated it 4 of 5 stars

The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe is a damning account of the post election violence in Zimbabwe in 2008. After nearly 30 years in power, Mugabe lost the presidential election to opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai. Mugabe denied the results and unleashed a brutal crackdown on the people of Zimbabwe. This is a disturbing and violent read, but at the same time the book highlights the incredible resilience of the Zimbabwean people.

The author, native Zimbabwean Peter Godwin,...more

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Mar 02, 2013 Patrick Carroll rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is not a pleasant or easy read, but it provides insight into what tyranny means within a country and the slow disintegration of a society. Peter Godwin clearly loves Zimbabwe and its people and like his readers is forced to sit impotently by and watch the steady erosion of its potential under the rule of someone totally corrupted by power. The big question is can Zimbabwe avoid the final collapse into a failed state? The Government of national Unity may be a transitionary step but equally i...more

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Jul 31, 2012 Althea rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"The Fear" is absolutely superb. I bought this book well over a year ago. I didn't read it straight away, as I was sure that I'd find it depressing. Well, I didn't find it depressing. I found it enthralling. It made me angry, it made me cry and it made me want to go back and rescue my beloved country, Zimbabwe, from the greedy, corrupt, amoral cartel who run it.

Of course the question is "how"?

Peter Godwin has shone a light on their evil actions. It's the only way we in the diaspora can hope to...more

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Mar 06, 2013 Tariq Mahmood rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For the oldest race in the world, the Africans bring the best and worst out on show. This book an important one. It shows the depth of human depravity, avarice juxtaposing with the heights of en devour and struggle for survival. Mugabe is making a fool of the civilized world by breaking all rules of democracy. I would argue that if there was any real threat to democracy, it comes from 'democrats' like Robert Mugabe. Why the world is quiet in the face of such blatant and systematic mockery of all...more

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Aug 07, 2012 Shelley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, narrative-non-fiction, africa

A horrific archive of atrocities committed against an innocent people by a harsh, despotic regime that will stop at nothing - even political genocide - to remain in power. In telling the chronological story of the descent of Zimbabwe, this book picks up where When a Crocodile Eats the Sun leaves off. Even though the focus is no longer on Peter Godwin's family, the book remains intensely personal, giving voice to oppressed, tortured, heroic people whose lives, families and careers have been torn...more

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Jul 27, 2011 Vera rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Another great book by Peter Godwin. This time he tells us about the awful events surrounding the last "elections" and the subsequent GNU (Government of National Unity). When I first started reading it I thought there was too much information about torture, almost "listed". But then I understood that he would be betraying those people who testified if he didn't mention them in the book... and there was no other way of escaping "sensationalism" other than these "listings".

Apart from this, which n...more

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Jun 20, 2011 Kurt rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I picked this up on my Kindle after having my interest piqued by goodreads friend Patrick. He had posted an update while still mid-book that stated it was "brutal" [subject matter]. Not knowing ass from elbow when it comes to African politics, I thought it looked like a winner. In short, this book was revelatory to my understanding of how difficult it is to institute any positive change in nations caught in infrastructure death-spirals. The dictatorial leader Robert Mugabe comes off as an ignora...more

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Apr 03, 2011 Rosanna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Peter Godwin is a white Zimbabwean who returns to Zimbabwe to witness Mugabe turning over the reins of government to the winner of the election. To his suprise and that of most of the naton,it becomes clear that Mugabe has no intention of doing that.Mugabe and his followers unleash a reign of terror on those who did not voted for him.Those who worked with Tsvangirai are beaten, jailed,killed everyday.
Godwin and his sister travel throughout the country recording this brutalization.They met with t...more

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Nov 13, 2011 Beth rated it 4 of 5 stars

An amazing book about the people of Zimbabwe and their struggle to survive the horrors of Robert Mugabe. This quote from the last page of the book has stuck with me. It was spoken by a man who had endured severe torture at the hands of Mugabe's followers for being an activist for the opposing political party. After his release from prison, he joined a group working to help torture victims rebuild their lives and find spiritual healing. The man was suicidal, but after joining this group called "T...more

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Aug 26, 2011 Todd Wilhelm rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book was very descriptive of the sufferings and torture endured by many of Zimbabwe's citizens who dared vote for the opposition party. It was disturbing to read, but I think it is beneficial to acquaint oneself with the reality of evil in this world. It never ceases to amaze me how cruel people can be to their fellow man.

"Mangezo's decision to stand in the last elections as an MDC candidate for Bindura Rural District Council, a hard-line Mugabe institution, was brave to the point of foolha...more This book was very descriptive of the sufferings and torture endured by many of Zimbabwe's citizens who dared vote for the opposition party. It was disturbing to read, but I think it is beneficial to acquaint oneself with the reality of evil in this world. It never ceases to amaze me how cruel people can be to their fellow man.

"Mangezo's decision to stand in the last elections as an MDC candidate for Bindura Rural District Council, a hard-line Mugabe institution, was brave to the point of foolhardiness. And in spite of all the chicanery and fraud, and intimidation, he won. Mugabe's ZANU-PF party officials were enraged.

Shortly afterward, deep into a starless night, a large posse of Mugabe's men surrounded this small house. "We have come to kill you," they chanted, and rained large rocks down upon the roof, preparing to burn it down.

Realizing that his wife and daughter were likely to be killed too, he ordered them under the beds. Then he burst out of the house, yelling and generally attracting the attention of his predators as he blundered down the hill, away from the house, hoping they would all pursue him, which they did, swarming after him, throwing rocks and spears, until finally one blade felled him, piercing his leg.

And as he lay on the ground, they loomed over him and smashed rocks down upon him, and they beat him with logs, lifting them high to get in good meaty bone-breaking blows, and he knew then that this was what it was like to be killed. He could feel his legs being broken, his arms splintering, his skull gashed and the taste of his own blood as it flowed down over his eyes into his mouth. Lying here among the fresh green stalks of maize that he had planted but would now not live to eat, he uncurled his arms from where they had been protecting his head, and he managed to hoist himself up a little so that he could look at his assailants, now lit against the newly emerging moon. And he said to them, "You had better be sure to kill me. Because if you don't, I am going to come after you, all of you. I know who you are."

I can't stop myself. I lower my pen. "Why? Why would you do that? Why would you lie there and provoke them like that? If it were me, I would be pleading for mercy, promising them I'd seen the error of my ways, begging to join their gang of goons. Why would you be so defiant, when they held your life in their hands, when they were about to kill you?"

Chenjerai listens while I vent my incredulity. He is a short, smiley man in his mid-forties, with wide-set eyes, and the sturdy back that comes of a life of labor. His head is cocked to one side, regarding me as though I'm the crazy one.

"Why?" He frowns, perplexed. "Why did I say such a thing? Because it was true! That's why."

And that is that, as far as he is concerned; it requires no further explanation.

He lost consciousness soon afterward and he was dragged by his feet over the rough ground to the base in Nyava, where he was saved by a disagreement among the hit squad. The militiamen were supposed to kill him there, at his house, in the dark, the CIO officers berated. Now everyone had seen them bring him here.

When Chenjerai eventually made it to hospital, he was barely alive. His legs were shattered and his body was pulverized by rocks. Penny visited him in Dandaro and was immediately struck. "He was one of the most positive, cheerful, determined people I've ever met," she says. "He was totally immobilized in plaster but never felt sorry for himself. In fact, the first thing he did was to get all his mates to write MDC slogans all over his plaster casts.""(less)

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Apr 23, 2012 Sarah rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was an eye-opening read of just a few of the horrors of the African dictatorship of Robert Mugabe. It was very informative, as American media has neglected to cover many of the events that have taken place in Zimbabwe. Godwin, a native Zimbabwean, excellently describes the best and worst of humanity in his account of the most recent presidential elections and strikes a broad spectrum of emotions along the way. He has told stories that need to be told, terrible as they are, with the hop...more

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Mar 03, 2013 Mary rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One of my favorite memoirs was When The Crocodile Eats The Sun, written be Peter Godwin. He wrote about his growing up in Zimbabwe, a golden , exciting place where he was free to run and explore with his Zimbabwean friends. He was leaving for school abroad as Mugave came into power. His parents and sister decided to stay as Mugave encouraged all foreigners to stay to enjoy "peace and prosperity". They remained to witness torture bases, burning villlages, opposition leaders i. Hiding the last whi...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Janet Kincaid rated it 4 of 5 stars

Following up on Meredith's "The Fate of Africa", I read Godwin's "The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe." At one time, Africa's most prosperous, fertile, and literate nations, Zimbabwe is now one of Africa's poorest, most desperate, and despotic. Robert Mugabe has styled himself the Hitler of Africa and he has more than lived up to that styling. This is a man who, along with his political party, has raped, tortured, intimidated, ravaged, and killed whites and blacks with equal im...more

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Aug 08, 2011 Mary Botha rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shameful account of how Mugabe is allowed to continue his tyrannical rule in a beautiful country he has already destroyed and the violence and torture he perpetrated through his generals and youth militia against opposition party members and their families and those who did not support him in the elections. Noone has been held accountable to this day and justice has not been served. Mugabe refuses to relinquish power despite having been resoundedly defeated in the elections and continues to inti...more

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Jul 03, 2012 Katy rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you need a good cry, or haven't yet solidified your hatred of Uncle Bob Mugabe, read this book. Godwin is a very, very good writer. This book is heartbreaking. Will the old bastard never die?

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Apr 10, 2011 Melissa Acuna rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Fear is horrific and necessary. Peter Godwin details the systematic, state sponsored torture and terrorism in his native country of Zimbabwe. He recounts the stories of survivors with little flourish, just the simple language and details that are provided to him, making the events even more difficult and unimaginable. He's well-connected and has access to many leaders within the opposition, providing excellent political analysis and background to the situation with Mugabe's dictatorship.

Des...more

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Nov 02, 2011 Wendy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, audio-book, memoir, non-fiction, politics, africa

I enjoyed listening to the audio tape of this book being read by the author. His account of events in Zimbabwe since the 2008 election debacle paint a very bleak picture. It is hard to listen to some of the stories of the atrocities that were committed -- there was just so much and to such a degree that it was difficult to even wrap my brain around it. As hard as it is to hear the stories of the victims of the Mugabe regime, I felt like I had an obligation to hear their story, so that their suff...more

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May 13, 2011 Cellophane Wrapper rated it 4 of 5 stars

Robert Mugabe is fascinating for many reasons - one of which is his ability to stay off the western media's radar screen, thanks to his ousting of all foreign press in Zimbabwe. Thus, it's a special treat to be able to read this book, and to find out what happened in 2008 when the people voted for the opposition party but he refused to concede.

Godwin is a powerful, poetic writer. He captures the agony of the people's suffering while still conveying the incredible, awe-inspiring beauty of both Zi...more

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Jul 09, 2011 Jb rated it 5 of 5 stars

It’s depressing to read about how a repulsive dictatorship has led a once economically thriving nation into ruin. And not only that, there are the tortures, beatings and killings. It’s the story of today’s Zimbabwe. Other nations have experienced the depths of inhumanity and dysfunction in recent years: Cambodia, Chili. Argentina, Rwanda come to mind. I cringed at stories of Mugabe depravity, yearning for a bit of optimism. There’s some hope in accounts of incredible bravery, persistence and ten...more

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Aug 08, 2011 Drakeflock rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Absolutely incredible--It's a bizarro world with 80% unemployment, farms have been jambanja'd (stolen) from white families and lay dormant, food needs to be shipped in through NGOs, hyperinflation raises the cost of a cup of tea to 600 million Zimbawean dollars, and you can and will be beaten, kidnapped and/or tortured for voting against the regime in order to change your fate. There is no where to hide, no escape as refugees are welcome no where else. Things are only just now looking less dire...more

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Apr 12, 2011 Irene rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: first-reads, 2011, african, politics, tearjerkers, biography-and-memoir, history

The Fear was devastating to read, yet impossible to put down. Devastating, because of the crimes and tragedies that Zimbabweans have endured--are still enduring--under Robert Mugabe's dictatorship. Impossible to put down, because for each story of torture, rape, murder, and destruction at the hands of Mugabe's henchmen and collaborators, Peter Godwin movingly describes the courage and compassion of opponents of the regime--sometimes at the risk of death.

Yet the Zimbabwean people's sacrifices ar...more The Fear was devastating to read, yet impossible to put down. Devastating, because of the crimes and tragedies that Zimbabweans have endured--are still enduring--under Robert Mugabe's dictatorship. Impossible to put down, because for each story of torture, rape, murder, and destruction at the hands of Mugabe's henchmen and collaborators, Peter Godwin movingly describes the courage and compassion of opponents of the regime--sometimes at the risk of death.

Yet the Zimbabwean people's sacrifices are the real reason for writing it: to testify that such unbelievable and horrific things happen even while the more fortunate and sheltered of us live our lives in ignorance of them. The danger that the men and women in The Fear face daily is something most of us can barely imagine: for everyone from ordinary farmers to resistance leaders, something as fundamental and commonplace as voting can have dire consequences. 'The fear' is entrenched in Zimbabwean society.

There are so many memorable accounts in this book that it's difficult to choose which to write about; some, however, are sure to haunt my memory for a very long time.

Visiting torture survivors in a hospital, Godwin notes that most of the men and women he interviews want him to use their full names. Knowing that doing so may invite retribution from Mugabe's goons, they give detailed accounts of what happened to them--sometimes even the names of their attackers. Then there is the congregation who, evicted from their church, try to hold a service anyway and are herded off (Godwin included) by riot police. But acts of bravery are not limited to lower classes. Godwin also writes of the determination of high-ranking politicians such as diplomat James McGee and minister of agriculture Roy Bennett (whom Godwin calls a "champion" and the greatest threat to Mugabe), who was falsely imprisoned for arms possession.

The Fear is a political memoir, but the personal and the political are necessarily intertwined. The book is also a deeply personal history about Godwin's relationships with his mother Helen and his sister Georgina. The prologue is a poignant vignette of Helen Godwin, who worked in health care in Zimbabwe and now lives with the bitter knowledge that much of her life's work is being destroyed. On the other hand, stories about or including Georgina are especially vivid and frequently comical in a gallows-humour way. Yet more than a memoir about family, The Fear exposes Godwin's anger and despair at the systematic devastation of his native land.

This book saddened, shocked, and outraged me. The Zimbabweans who lost their homes, their families, and their lives during Mugabe's rule have sacrificed much, too much. But no less courageous is Godwin himself, who secretly went back to his native country to research and write the book even though he was once accused of being a spy for foreign intelligence.

No matter what your politics or passions, The Fear is an important and recommended read.

4.5/5 stars(less)

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May 04, 2013 Dozo rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Peter Godwin returns to Zimbabwe to see the destruction spread by the increasingly teetering Mugabe regime. Having lost national elections, Mugabe turns his rage towards opposition supporters as well as his increasingly deprived people. Godwin meets and interviews key people in Zimbabwe's opposition and victims of Mugabe's sympathisers, chronicling their fate at the hands of "The Fear". While the book is depressing and harrowing, it becomes apparent that unlike in his previous books, Godwin no l...more

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Apr 24, 2012 Angela rated it 5 of 5 stars

What astounded me throughout this book was how the MDC supporters keep believing in democracy. They keep trying. They vote, get beaten, go back and vote again. They report the violence to the police even though they know the police are working for the Mugabe regime (and sometimes will say as much) and will not help them. Those who have the means (not many) get lawyers and go to court even though the court system is corrupt and most likely all that they will get for their trouble is another beati...more

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Jun 06, 2012 Richard rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: africa

Parade Magazine occasionally runs a feature where they rank the world's worst dictators. They give little thumbnail summaries of various atrocities. When I see this feature I glance over it, look for familiar names, and then continue flipping through the pages. I suppose that Robert Mugabe has been a regular in these listings, but since I had never heard of him, his name never stuck with me.

But reading Peter Godwin's accounts of what has been going on in the last decade or so in Zimbabwe is so m...more Parade Magazine occasionally runs a feature where they rank the world's worst dictators. They give little thumbnail summaries of various atrocities. When I see this feature I glance over it, look for familiar names, and then continue flipping through the pages. I suppose that Robert Mugabe has been a regular in these listings, but since I had never heard of him, his name never stuck with me.

But reading Peter Godwin's accounts of what has been going on in the last decade or so in Zimbabwe is so much different from reading Parade Magazine. Here we go in depth as Godwin, a journalist, relates the stories of victims of unspeakable torture and has a few close calls himself as he travels around the country talking to various people who have run afoul of Mugabe. In his earlier book, When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa, Godwin described the fates of white farmers who had their property seized by Mugabe's government. Here, the badness is cranked up a number of notches as we learn of the aftermath of the 2008 election. Mugabe failed to win, but instead of relinquishing power, he scheduled a runoff and ruthlessly punished anyone who was known to have voted against him.

You would think that someone who governs as monstrously as Mugabe would be known around the world, and universally reviled. However, as Parade Magazine can attest, Mugabe is not unique, and he gets lost in the crowd of other dictators.

Godwin is certainly brave to go into Zimbabwe and bear witness to those who have suffered for opposing Mugabe's reign of terror. But those who he talks to, those who have been tortured and have seen their families suffer and die in the struggle to bring peace and normalcy to Zimbabwe, they're the bravest of all, and it's important to hear their stories. After having read two books by Peter Godwin, as well as books by Douglas Rogers (The Last Resort: A Memoir of Zimbabwe) and Alexandra Fuller (Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight) I know that the next time Mugabe and Zimbabwe is in the news, I'll be paying much closer attention than I have in the past.

This was the thirteenth of nineteen consecutive books that I plan to read about Africa this year. It's the last one on my list that concerns Zimbabwe, but I expect that in years to come, I'll probably return to this subject matter from time to time.

(less)

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About Peter Godwin

"Peter Godwin was born and raised in Africa. He studied law at Cambridge University, and international relations at Oxford. He is an award winning foreign correspondent, author, documentary-maker and screenwriter.

After practicing human rights law in Zimbabwe, he became a foreign and war correspondent, and has reported from over 60 countries, including wars in: Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe...more "Peter Godwin was born and raised in Africa. He studied law at Cambridge University, and international relations at Oxford. He is an award winning foreign correspondent, author, documentary-maker and screenwriter.

After practicing human rights law in Zimbabwe, he became a foreign and war correspondent, and has reported from over 60 countries, including wars in: Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Somalia, Congo, Ivory Coast, Sudan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kashmir and the last years of apartheid South Africa. He served as East European correspondent and Diplomatic correspondent for the London Sunday Times, and chief correspondent for BBC television's flagship foreign affairs program, Assignment, making documentaries from such places as: Cuba, Panama, Indonesia, Pakistan, Spain, Northern Ireland, the Philippines, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, the Baltics, and the Balkans as it descended into war. His film, The Industry of Death, about the sex trade in Thailand, won the gold medal for investigative film at the New York Film Festival.

He also wrote and co-presented a three part series 'Africa Unmasked' for Britain's Channel Four. He has written for a wide array of magazines and newspapers including Vanity Fair, (for which he was a 2009 finalist for the Michael Kelly award) National Geographic, New York Times magazine and Men’s Journal.

He is the author of five non fiction books: 'Rhodesians Never Die' - The Impact of war and Political Change on White Rhodesia c.1970 - 1980 (with Ian Hancock), Wild at Heart: Man and Beast in Southern Africa (with photos by Chris Johns and foreword by Nelson Mandela), The Three of Us - a New Life in New York (with Joanna Coles) and Mukiwa, which received the George Orwell prize and the Esquire-Apple-Waterstones award. When a Crocodile Eats the Sun - a Memoir of Africa, won the Borders Original Voices Award, and was selected by American Libraries Association as a Notable Book winner for 2008.

He has taught writing at: the New School, Princeton and Columbia. And he is a 2010 Guggenheim Fellow."

http://petergodwin.com/about/(less)

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Books by Peter Godwin

When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa

Wild at Heart: Man and Beast in Southern Africa

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“As we get ready to leave, Georgina announces that she wants to keep the kitten. But of course she can't. We walk up and down looking for its mother, calling for its siblings. But the nearby kraals are deserted, of both people and animals. And eventually we have to leave it at the gate of an empty kraal, the closest one to where it found us, hoping that this might be its home. As we start to drive away, the kitten totters down the dirt road after us, a furry ball of khaki with irregular black spots, and Georgina bursts into tears.

'Over the kitten? Really?' I ask, gesturing around the ruins of the torture base and the mass graves. 'With all of this?'

'No,' she sniffs. 'It's not just the kitten. It's everyone here. They've all been abandoned. No one gives a **** about what happened to them. They're completely alone.” — 1 person liked it

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The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe

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