Dead Leaves: Two Years in the Rhodesian War

by Dan Wylie

It is January, 1978. Groups of nervous, dutiful white conscripts begin their National Service with Rhodesia's security forces. Ian Smith's minority regime is in its dying days and negotiations towards majority rule are already under way. For these inexperienced eighteen-year-olds, there is nothing to do but go on fighting, and hold the line while the transition happens around them. Dead Leaves is a richly textured memoir in which an ordinary troopie grapples with the unique dilemmas presented by an extraordinary period in history - the specters of inner violence and death; the pressurized arrival of manhood; and the place of conscience, friendship and beauty in the pervasive atmosphere of futile warfare.

196 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2002

About the author

Dan Wylie is a lecturer in the English Department at Rhodes University, Grahamstown.

Reviews

[Don · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting and honest perspective, but when reading it you have to consider that the author was a washout soldier from officer training and two units before he straightened himself out enough to conduct himself properly. The author is very anti-war, which is neither surprising nor particularly detrimental to the book's quality; however, the author did seem to be continually at odds with himself, which does tend undermine his opinions.