BOOK REVIEWS 101not of themselves make a good story, but Tsitsi Dangarembga's fluid style ofwriting, her ability to evoke the sights, sounds and smells of the rural Rhodesia ofthe 1960s and her knack of portraying the events and characters in her novel in alifelike and believable fashion make this novel 'a very good read'. Furthermore,this story, by its very na ture, widens the unde rstanding and deepens the sympathyof the reader, especially those readers who, like myself, have very little experienceof life in the rural areas of this country. This book deserves the success it hasachieved, notably in winning the Commonwealth Literature Prize (Africa region)University of Zimbabwe CAROLINE MACNAUG HTANLeeds Southern African Studies Leeds, Univ. of Leeds Southern African StudiesLeeds, Univ. of Leeds, African Studies Unit and Department of Politics, 1988-, pp.and price vary.This series of working papers began in 1988 and is already into its sixteenthpublication. They vary in length (20-40 pages A5) and in price (£1,50 - 2,00).The first to concern Zimbabwe was No. 5, M. Sato's The Organisation andEffectiveness of Cooperatives in Zimbabwe which was published in 1 988. Based onhis doctoral thesis (Leeds, 1987), Sato's paper traces the development of co-operatives since 1980 and attempts to delineate their position in the changing politicaleconomy of Zimbabwe.The next, No. 6, was D. Pankhurst's Women's Lives and Women's Struggles inRural Zimbabwe, also published in 1988 and based on her doctoral thesis (Liverpool,1982). This paper reports a study of a village in Mangwende Communal Land,undertaken in order to establish the linkages between gender relations andagriculture.The next, No. 7. was L. Cliffe's Prospects for Agriarian Transformation inZimbabwe, also published in 1988. This is an extended version of his essay, 'Theprospects for agricultural transformation in Zimbabwe', published in C. Stoneman(ed.), Zimbabwe's Prospects (London, Macmillan, 1988). In analysing the forces atwork, the author seems to have a gloomy view of the likelihood of change unless thegrip of technical experts and bureaucrats can be broken.The latest in the series to focus on Zimbabwe is L. Sachikonye's The State andAgribusiness in Zimbabwe: Plantations and Contract Farming, publis hed in 1989 andalso based on a doctoral thesis (Leeds, 1989). The term 'contract farming' here meansout-grower production, in this case of tea and sugar, under contract to large estatesowned largely by foreign capital. The study concentrates on the labour process amongout-growers and the erne rgence of differentiatio n between grower and o f competitionbetween out-growers and the workers on the plantations.R. S. R.