S is for Samora: a lexical biography of Samora Machel and the Mozambican dream by Sarah Lefanu (review)

role in emerging African nationalist organizations’ (p. 169). Indeed, black veterans of the 1939–45 war ‘played an important role in upholding Southern Rhodesia’s colonial state’ (p. 221). Soldiers, but also policemen, were often recruited from marginal regions of Zimbabwe or from neighbouring colonies, and a loyalty to the political order they served was inculcated by the close discipline of camp life, identity with fellow-men in the same uniform, and selfinterest in the economic benefits of continued service, as well as by state propaganda. While nationalist unrest increased in the mid-1950s, RAR soldiers were fighting in Malaya. During the Chimurenga, a large part of the Rhodesian army was black, and their numbers included a handful of African officers commissioned after 1970. Stapleton deals with other important issues: religion and witchcraft; sport; the recruitment of African policewomen to manage female prisoners and also to counter the involvement of women in protest movements; and demands by African policemen for improved conditions of service, which began to be voiced in the early 1940s. At times the evidence and examples listed to make a specific point – for example, on police courage and corruption – could have been shorter to allow for more analysis. In the concluding chapter brief mention is made of the process of integrating the RAR into the new Zimbabwe Army after 1980, a topic which clearly needs more research. But these are small reservations; overall, this is a very useful addition to the studies on police and military in colonial Africa, and is warmly recommended.