(medical magic) in maintaining the stability and self-assurance of the Tswana world-view "in the heart of darkness"? The omission is all the more glaring since Alvereon's Tswana. father. Rre Segatlhe, is a traditional doctor himself and used his medicines to good effect in maintaining the illueion of control. Surely Alverson's own story of Segatlhe's self-praise, and Segatlhe's own words - "medicine smoothed the road. f1l1e-<1the holes, and brushed aside thorny branches" (198) - states the situation too clearly to be ignored. It would seem that 'l'swana medicines do indeed smooth the road. They provide an illusion of control and security which for oppressed peoples is one of the most vital means of coping. Could it be that this.secret weapon remained secret even from.Alverson? Or did he repress its importance in an attempt to make the Tswana more heroic in rationalist-oriented western eyes? Nei ther of these problems, nor yet the author's unne- cessarily difficult and metaphorical language, shOUld sel'iously vi tiate the book's impact. Mind in the Heart of Darkness stands out as a real tribute to inter-cultural understanding and the west.s continually improving effort to understand the impact colonialism in Africa. Everywhere. but especiallY in Bcl't;swanat the book deserves many readers. (Dr. John Spears - John Hopkins University •. Baltimore -U.S.A.) Abel Muzorewa . Rise Autobiography. Evans London. Meth~dist Church, says in the Foreword, the Bishop himself would like to regard the autobiography as "a vital romance story where his life has been inextricably united with the struggle of his people for liberation". (p.x). In my view the book should be subtitJ.ed "A Study in the transformation of the views of a cleric" or "An'Apo.logia for Continued racism". I find it ironic that the Bishop should be. saying "The Zimbabwe War of Liberation is not an aggreE!sion ag£l.instwhite people. It is a last response taken in self-defence, when all non-violent methods have been tried and spurned by our oppressors ••• I cannot sit smugly and passively in the comfort of my home while my people are being tortured to death, shot down or bombed". (p. 177), and yet he willing to support the March 3, 1978 Agreement and the so-called Apr:U 20, 1979 Elections. Under both the March 3 Agreement and the April 20 Elec- tion.s, the Bishop and his cohorts left the control of the country to commissions controlled by white settlers. Under existing arrangement, the Rhodesia Front continues to exercise decisive control. This has prompted some people to call the diminutive bishop a "Black Smith". Some people wonder how a political leper, an utter pariah can conduct free and fair elections. They argued congently that those who wish to recognise the Muzorewa regime will find no grounds ,not to recognise the South African Bantustans of the Transkei, Ciskei, Bophuthatswana and Vendaland. The enduring theme of the book is the futility of any dialogue with successive British and Rhodesia Front governments since 1965. The Smith-Home Proposals of 1972 are seen for what they were worth as "the latest piece of Rhodesian-British intrigue" (p. 93) and "the legalisation of U .D.I. (p. 104). More importantly, the book is a devastating eXpOse of the startling brutality with which the Smith'regime often dealt with its op:pQ- I)..ents "hauling [jhe!!!l to detention" (p. 120). The autobiography What is even moredisconeertingis the fact that the Bishop uses the book, as .a preteJCt for launchi.ng the 1lI0l!ft vi.c>ious and blistering attack on other nationali$ts. He emerges as the selfless, people-oriented and incorruptible lea.der. Dr. Joshua Nkomo, Robert Mugabeand the Rev. Ndaba.ningiSithole are portrayed as rabid tribali.sts, possessed of "an insatiable lust for power" (p. 148). He f'desired.onlyZilllba.bWea!1unity" (p. 168). He WaSthe "saViour" of Zimbabwe,the on.eto lel;l;d the people to "Canaan". Opposition to him was:tantamount to rejecting salvation. (p. 15lt)' The doctrine of lllora.lpurity and righteous living is raised to infi!1i1\y in this book.tt'he Bishop never does anything wrong, everything hedoes.;ts:£'or the greater glory of Zimbabweand its tortured and ta.untedm$.ssel3H The attempts of other national~ststoensurethat the terms ;Of the Lusaka Declarationof' Unity ,rE! illIplemented are regl;l;rdlldas a "desperate bid for the leadership of theA.W.O." (p. l'~.)or as "attempts to usurP the le.adership of the A..N.(J~nCp.189). To put it more succinctly, the negative in thE!other nationalist leaders is grossly exaggerated and thi!l positiveoonvE!nii!lnt:t.;r ignored. For a person who might haVE!been bored by Bishop's preoccupation with his.failure persuade Joshua NkOJllo and Robert Mugabe to join in the conspiratorial talks to the March 3 Agreement, the ~ishop's vision of a to make refreshing reading. extremely helpful •. hilarious humour, as, railway station .0iItside Sa,lisbury young man innocently at'lked, Except for a few strang.e" results were successful" .opinions. as plain of the odyssey. All things considered, the book, should be use- ful to members of the public and particularly to the students of twentieth century Zimbabwean history. (Mr C. Moyo. UBS Gaborone) H.N.Chittickand .R.I. Rotberg. East Africa and the Orient:Cllltural Synthesis in Pr~colonialTimes. Afric3na. New York. 1975. 343 pp.£20. East Africa and the Orient, which consists of ten papers originating from the 1967 ffairobi conference on East African-Orient contacts, was out of date before it ,,,asprinted. It contains many theories and assumptions that have lost favour, only a few ideas and sources that have not appeared elsewhere, and not a single discussion of "cultural syntheses ll• The book sUbtitle is misleading. East Africa. !ind the.,Orient is mainlY concerned with speculating about evidence of Oriental, mainly Arab, contact with East Africa before 1.500. Historiographically it belongs to the Old School, Which attaches particular impor- tance to influences e:lCteJ:'nal to East Africa and depends for ev'ideneeonarchaeology, enthnography and chronicles in Arabic SCI'ip.t. Contributors to the vQlUme include four archaeologists, a 'biologia.t,an ethnographer, an. :tsl