The Columbia Guide to Central African Literature in English Since 1945

I found this a difficult book to review, not because of the arrangement or subject matter, but because of its rather aggressive anti‐colonialist stance. As a white Anglo‐Saxon of good liberal education who grew up in the painful years of decolonisation, of Macmillan's “Winds of Change” and Wilson's frustrating spat with Ian (Rhodesian UDI) Smith, I rather resent feeling stereotyped as an opponent of African freedom; I felt under attack. I am clearly oversensitive on the subject and I can well see that from the viewpoint of those living in the countries covered – Zimbabwe, Malawi and Zambia – hostility...