Dinner with Mugabe: The Untold Story of a Freedom Fighter who Became a Tyrant [Hardcover]

Heidi Holland (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 14, 2008

This penetrating, timely portrait of Robert Mugabe is the psycho-biography of a man whose once-brilliant career has ruined Zimbabwe and cast shame on the African continent. Heidi Holland's tireless investigation begins with her having dinner with Mugabe, the freedom fighter, and ends in a searching interview with Zimbabwe's president more than 30 years later. The author charts Mugabe's gradual self-destruction, and uncovers the complicity of some of the most respectable international players in the Zimbabwe tragedy. Probing the mystery of Africa's loyalty to one of its worst dictators, Holland explores the contradictions that cloud the life of a man who had embodied the continent's promise.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'By tracking down the key figures in Mugabe's life, Heidi Holland has come closer than anyone else to discovering what makes the old dictator tick' - David Blair, Daily Telegraph 'The most intimate portrait yet produced of Zimbabwe's clever but brutal leader' - Adam Roberts, The Economist --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Heidi Holland has been reporting from Africa for 30 years. As a freelance journalist, she has written extensively about the continent's liberation movements as well as its people, cities and belief systems for international newspapers including the Guardian and Sunday Times, and for television channels including the BBC and Nine Network, Australia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 280 pages
• Publisher: Penguin Global (May 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0143025570
• ISBN-13: 978-0143025573
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,169,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insightful and Well-written!, June 29, 2008

By 

mpqtpie "mpqtpie" (Winter Park, Florida) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Dinner with Mugabe: The Untold Story of a Freedom Fighter who Became a Tyrant (Hardcover)

Although Heidi Holland met Mugabe only a couple of times, she still provides some good interviews and insights into Mugabe. He has unfortunately proved to be one of the worst leaders of the past couple of decades. Look at the results of his presidency--100,000% inflation, massive food shortages and an 80% unemployment rate. Zimbabwe is an embarrassment to Africa and it didn't have to be that way. Here's a detailed critique of what went wrong, where it went wrong and who is responsible. Mugabe is an intriguing figure because he began his career largely heralded by everyone as a freedom fighter like Nelson Mandela. To see how tragically it turned out, leaves many questions; it's a void Holland is clearly trying to fill.

Holland writes well--the words are fluid and vivid and so it's easy to see how her years of reporting for the BBC, the Guardian and many other reputable news organizations has helped. The book is broken into 15 chapters with an index and bibliography for further reading. I do have one complaint, that I wish this were written by someone who had spent more time with Mugabe instead of relying mostly on interviews and a couple of brief encounters with him.

However, I am glad this book was written and even more glad that it was published in America! I heard Heidi interviewed on the BBC and was dismayed that the book was available for sale only in South Africa. (Note: The book was rushed into production here so the British grammar remains. IE: magnetised instead of magnetized.) Yes, we are interested in the subject here too and are horrified by the still unfolding tragedy of Zimbabwe. If only there was something more we could do to help, but what?

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent insight, well written, November 13, 2009

By 

Booklover in MA - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dinner with Mugabe: The Untold Story of a Freedom Fighter who Became a Tyrant (Hardcover)

Ms Holland repeatedly interviewed many people close to Mugabe over the course of his political years, and a couple of people who have known him all his life. She also interviewed Mugabe himself, but those who complain that the book should have been written by someone who knew Mugabe well are missing the point. Her take on his life, career, and psychology is neutral and thoughtful, and although she is not a psychologist/psychiatrist herself she worked closely with several professionals in the field to arrive at her conclusions.

If you want to understand the situation in Zimbabwe, a country where I grew up (it was Rhodesia then), she makes it accessible and her analysis of Mugabe's character is logical and based on painstaking research. She doesn't excuse or downplay what Mugabe has done, but she offers explanations for his behavior which make sense, and plenty of insight into all the other factors which have played into the tragedy of that beautiful country. There is plenty of blame to go around!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Top Notch Stuff, March 2, 2010

By 

Leah Smolker (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dinner with Mugabe: The Untold Story of a Freedom Fighter who Became a Tyrant (Hardcover)

This is one of the best books I have ever read. Robert Mugbae is clearly mentally unstable and to ignore that fact would be ignoring the truth about what is currently happening in Zimbabwe. Holland made an enormous effort to find and interview friends, relatives, acquaintances and priests that has ever known Mugabe. She explores the social and political environment that molded Mugabe as well as what it was like growing up with religious zealot for a mother and no father whatsoever. Muagbe's mother knew that Robert was a gifted and sensitive child from birth and told him that he was specially picked from God to lead the nation. Perhaps this is where his narcissism and persecutory delusions come from. Holland offers these valuable psychological insights into what is going on in his head. A lot of writers analyze political leaders in a chest-pumping way that only glamourizes their power and material wealth. Holland actually tries to understand who Mugabe is as a person and how that influenced him as a leader. I will highly recommend accompanying this book with Dr. Martha Stout's "The Myth of Sanity." It is about DID and once I finished reading it, I was convinced Mugabe had it. I highly recommend both books