Zambezia (1982), X (ii).ESSAY REVIEWREPRINTS AND REMINISCENCES OFWHITE RHODESIATHE LEADING REPRINT publisher in this country has undoubtedly been Books ofRhodesia, now Books of Zimbabwe, which began its highly successful series,largely of Pioneer vintage, in 1968; in all it has.published more than 70 reprints butsome time before the last of the main series appeared in 1979 it was clear that thethe demand for reprints of this sort was not infinite, particularly in view of theinevitable political changes that would almost certainly diminish both the generalinterest in such history and the main (that is, White) book-buying public.1Therefore some new, original texts were published,2 but more importantly, in1978-9 two new series entitled 'Men of Our Time' and 'Down Memory Lane*began. 'Men of Our Time' was to consist of the autobiographies or biographies ofleading public figures and so far six volumes have appeared. The first three, byJulian Greenfield, Clifford Dupont and Rubidge Stumbles,3 are the recollections(autobiography would be too grand a term) of three politicians; the following threeare somewhat different in that one is the story, by a friend of the family, of theGoldberg brothers and their ranch, one the memoirs of John Thompson, a leadingforensic scientist in the British South Africa Police, and one an essay in auto-biography with poems by Noel Brettell.4 With such a range of subjects it is not to beexpected that the series would have much of a unity. The first three by lawyers-tumed-politicians probably represented the original focus of the series but, if so,political changes have given the Men of Our Time a decidedly passe appearance,1A similar falling off, however, appears to have taken place in South Africa where Books ofRhodesia's African Reprint Library came to an end in 197? after twelve volumes. The three of these thatrelate particularly to Zimbabwe have been reviewed ante (1977), V, 219; most of the volumes however,have points of interest for Zimbabwe. Jeppe's map showing Mauch's route to Zimbabwe in E.F.Sandeman, Eight Months In an Ox-waggon {1880] (Johannesburg, Africana Reprints 1, 1975), xix, xii,402pp., ZS7.95; the brief survey of the Ndebeie in C.L. Morris-Newman, With the Boers in theTransvaal, 1880-1 [1882] (idem, 6, 1976), xvii, 387, viii pp., ZS13.45; sidelights on Rhodes in L.W.Cohen, Reminiscences of Johannesburg and London [1944] (idem, 7,1976), xvii, 316 pp., Z$10.05;Jameson at his most reckless and dishonest in J.W. Matthews, Incwadi Yami [1887] (idem, 9,1976),xxiii, 542, xv pp., Z$l 7.50: and the remarkably early plea for the lowveld of Mashonaiand to be made agame reserve in O. Schreiner, Thoughts on South Africa [1923] (idem, 10, 1976, xxii, 398 pp.,Z$12.50.2 Such as G. Gibbon, Pag et of Rhodesia (Bulawayo, Books of Rhodesia, 1973) reviewed ante(1973-4), III, ii, 132-4; and P. McLmghlin, Ragtime Soldiers (Bulawayo, Books of Zimbabwe, 1980)reviewed ante (1981), IX, 77-8. Also three of the later reprint series were not really reprints at all; A.P.Di Pema, A Right to be Proud (No. 22, 1978), a recent American doctoral thesis, and H. Rolin, Rolin 'sRhodesia (No. 21, 1978), a translation by D. Kirkwood, both reviewed ante (1979), VII, 121; and H.Depekhin and C. Croonenberghs,/owrney to Gubuluwayo (No. 24,1979), a translation and edition byM. Lloyd and R.S. Roberts, reviewed ante (1980), VIII, 195ff.JJ.M. Greenfield, Testimony of a Rhodesian Federal (1, 1978), xix, 259 pp., ZS6.60; C.Dupont, The Reluctant President (2, 1978), 237 pp., ZS6.60; A.R.W. Stumbles, Some Recollectionsof a Rhodesian Speaker (3, 1980), 203 pp., Z$6.60.4 W.E. Arnold, The Goldbergs of Leigh Ranch (4, 1980), xv, 140 pp., ZS12.00; J. Thompson,Crime Scientist (5,1980), xi, 184 pp., Z$10.20;N.H. Brettell, Side-Gate and Stile (6,198 l),xxii,.238pp., Z$ 18.00.139140ESSAY REVIEWSand the series has notably failed to recruit to its list those other politicians of ourtime who are now being published, such as Muzorewa, Nyagumbo and Mugabe5 orless political figures, such as Stan Made, the University Librarian, who haspublished his reminiscences, or Langton 'Schoolboy', the boxer, who is the subjectof the first of Mambo Press's Zimbabwean Profiles.6Nevertheless one must be grateful for the publication of the series, howeverdated and thin, if only for the titbitsŠGreenfield's comments on Tredgold'sresignation as Chief Justice in 1960, Dupont's personal courage and raciness,Stumbles's description of Jacob Smit and the Liberal Party, the Goldbergs'devotion to farming unusual in immigrant Jewish families, Thompson's referenceto the extreme bunching of murder cases in Rhodesia, and Brettelfs memories ofArthur Shearly Cripps, Admittedly the reader has to plough through a lot of rathertrivial anecdotage but even this has some value in underlining both WhiteRhodesia's smallness and remoteness (the same characters keep popping up indifferent books, and everybody knows everybody), and its ambivalent relationshipwith Britain that gradually turns into contempt. In the history of this small society,ultimately tied to Britain, the Federation, which is of little interest today, loomsvery large indeedŠfor Bennie Goldberg, the outsider, it brought the opportunity tomake his mark on a wider stage and develop his deep British patriotism, forGreenfield, Dupont and Stumbles, all British by descent, the ordeal of dealing witha Britain which had lost the British will to rule that still flourished in WhiteRhodesia. Whilst Greenfield, the most intellectual of the participants, is morecautious, Dupont and Stumbles still maintain, despite R.A, Butler's denials, thatWinston Field was deliberately deceived and tricked by Butler into acceptingdissolution of Federation without prior written guarantee of independence.Common to all three books by the politicians is the failure of their authors to revealmore of what they presumbaly must have knownŠnotably, the real reasons for theejection of Todd, the details of the formation of the Rhodesian Front, and theplanning and implementation of U.D.I. But will other men of our time, like Toddand Smith, Nkomo and Mugabe, ever tell us more?The 'Down Memory Lane' series also is rather mixed in character. The firsttwo are rather lightweight. Heald's book is a compilation of some sixtyreminiscences of White women; there is little of real historical significance amongthe anecdotes except the numerous examples of hardships endured in developingthe country which are all too often forgotten today by both Whites and Blacks.7Hardy's collection of trials is of the sensational sort of crime and none of thepolitical or constitutional ones that have influenced, or at least illustrate,Rhodesian historical or legal development is included.8 The third and fourth in thes A.T. Muzorewa, Rise up and Walk; An Autobiography, ed. N.E. Thomas (London, EvansBrothers, 1978); M. Nyagumbo, With the People: An Autobiography from the Rhodesian Struggle(Salisbury, Graham Publishers, 1980);D. Smith with I. Davis, Mugabe (Salisbury, Pioneer Head, 1981[originally published in London, Sphere Books, 1981])Šall to be reviewed later,6S.M. Made, Made in Rhodesia (Gwelo, Mambo Press, English Writers Series, 6, 1980),reviewed ante (1981), IX, 187-8; L.M. Hatugari, Langton 'Schoolboy' Tinago: Boxing's DancingMaster (Gwelo, Mambo Press, Zimbabwean Profiles 1, 1979).7M, Heald (comp.), Down Memory Lane with Some Early Rhodesian Women, 1897-1923(Bulawayo, Books of Rhodesia, 1979), xix, 323 pp., Z$8.80.8 A. Hardy, Some Famous Rhodesian Trials (Bulawayo, Books of Zimbabwe, Down MemoryLane [2], 1981), 151 pp., Z$ 11.70.R.S. ROBERTS141series, however, are rather different in that they are large-format, fact-filled,historical surveys of leading (non-African) schools.9Despite Books of Rhodesia's swing away from reliance on reprints, men-tioned above, and the virtual cessation in 1975 of Kingston's Pioneer Head seriesof reprints, publishers still show surprising ingenuity in finding items to reprint.Thus Books of Rhodesia (now Books of Zimbabwe) has produced four individualand very different reprints since the cessation of its series: Wallis's biography ofThomas Baines of 1941; a brief guidebook of 1896, From the Cape to Bula wayo; alisting of stands, occupants and trades in 1896, Davis's The Bulawayo Directoryand Handbook to Matabeleland, 1895-96; and a combination of two books on thepostal history of Rhodesia and Central Africa, Dann's The Romance of Posts ofRhodesia of 1940 and The Cancellations of the Rhodesias and Nyasaland of1950,l0 The last, no doubt, has something of a specialist market, but the second andthird seem rather desperate attempts to find reprintable material and are hardly thesort of book that the general reader would read (although they could well have acertain value for teaching, displays, etc.).At the same time, this enterprising publisher has also begun a new series ofreprints on African hunting,11 which also looks rather desperate (the volumes ofFinaughty and Selous having already been published in the earlier reprint series12),but no doubt there is a sport market, particularly in North America, not reached bythe earlier historical series that was narrowly Rhodesian in focus. Apart from suchspecialist markets, however, surely the day of reprints and reminiscences of WhiteRhodesia must be nearing its end. The question is, what will, if anything, take theirplace?Will there develop a new, wider and book-buying public that will sustain alocal publishing industry, or will we increasingly be served by multinationalcompanies seeking an officially approved mass market?R.S.R.9I.P. MacLaren (ed.), Some Renowned Rhodesian Senior Schools (Bulawayo, Books ofZimbabwe, Down Memory Lane [3], 1982), 345 pp., illus., ZS27.3O, and More Rhodesian SeniorSchools (Bulawayo, Books of Zimbabwe, Down Memory Lane [4], 1982), xviii, 322 pp., Z$51.3O.I0J.P.R. Wallis, Thomas Baines: Explorer and Artist 1820-1875 (Bulawayo, Books ofZimbabwe, 1980), [viii], 351 pp., Z$27.OO; From the Cape to Bulawayo, By One Who Has Done It(Bulawayo, Books of Rhodesia, 1979), [viii], 48 pp., with publisher's introduction and new illustrations,ZS5.75; A. Davis, The Directory of Bulawayo and Handbook to Matabeleland, 1895-96(Bulawayo, Books of Zimbabwe, 1981), xx, 220 pp., with publisher's introduction and new illustrations,Z$15.35; and H.C. Dann, The Romance of the Posts of Rhodesia, British Central Africa andNyasaland and the Cancellations of the Rhodesias and NyasaSand (Bulawayo, Books of Zimbabwe,1981), 311 pp., ZS34.8G," R.G. Cumming, A Hunter's Life in South Africa [1850] (Bulawayo, Books of Zimbabwe, 2vols, African Hunting 1 and 2, 1980), xvii. xv, 388 pp.; x, 381 pp., Z$14.00 each; W. Finaughty, TheRecollections of an Elephant Hunter 1864-1875 [1916] (African Hunting 3, 1980), [v], 244 pp.,Z$l 1.55; W.C. Baldwin, African Hunting [1863] (African Hunting 4,1981), xii, x, 451 pp., ZS23.1O;F.C. Selous, A Hunter's Wanderings in Africa [1881] (African Hunting 5, 1981), [xii], 455 pp.,Z$24.OO; A.H. Neumann, Elephant Hunting in East Equatorial Africa [1898] (African Hunting 6,1982), [xxxvi], 455 pp., ZS24.00.12 Bulawayo, Books of Rhodesia, Rhodesiana Reprints Library 14 and 29, 1970 and 1973,respectively.