Peter Godwin, ein preisgekrönter Auslandskorrespondent und Autor, schafft fesselnde Erzählungen, die tief in seinen umfassenden globalen Berichterstattung wurzeln. Seine Arbeit befasst sich hauptsächlich mit dem komplexen Geflecht von Konflikten, menschlicher Widerstandsfähigkeit und politischem Umbruch, oft vor dem Hintergrund Afrikas, des Kontinents seiner Jugend. Godwins unverwechselbare Stimme verbindet scharfe Beobachtung mit tiefem Einfühlungsvermögen und bietet den Lesern eine präzise und bewegende Erkundung vielfältiger Kulturen und herausfordernder Realitäten.
A poignant, beautifully evocative, savagely violent memoir in the tradition of My Traitor's Heart. Rhodesia, 1946: A small boy witnesses the death of his neighbor, murdered by guerrillas, marking the beginning of white rule in Africa. Now, Peter Godwin, the witness to that murder, has written a vivid and moving account of growing up in a colony rapidly collapsing into chaos.
Hailed by reviewers as "powerful," "haunting" and "a tour de force of personal journalism," When A Crocodile Eats the Sun is the unforgettable story of one man's struggle to discover his past and come to terms with his present. Award winning author and journalist Peter Godwin writes with pathos and intimacy about Zimbabwe's spiral into chaos and, along with it, his family's steady collapse. This dramatic memoir is a searing portrait of unspeakable tragedy and exile, but it is also vivid proof of the profound strength of the human spirit and the enduring power of love. "In the tradition of Rian Malan and Philip Gourevitch, a deeply moving book about the unknowability of an Africa at once thrilling and grotesque. In elegant, elegiac prose, Godwin describes his father's illness and death in Zimbabwe against the backdrop of Mugabe's descent into tyranny. His parent's waning and the country's deterioration are entwined so that personal and political tragedy become inseparable, each more profound for the presence of the other" -- Andrew Solomon, author of The Noonday Demon "A fascinating, heartbreaking, deeply illuminating memoir that has the shape and feel of a superb novel." -Kurt Anderson, author of Heydey
In mid-2008, after 30 years of tyrannical rule, Robert Mugabe met his politburo. He had just lost an election. But instead of conceding power, he was persuaded to launch a campaign of terror to cower his citizens. Journalist & author Peter Godwin was one of the few observers to slip into the country & bear witness to what happened next.
The narrative revolves around Peter's emotional struggle as he faces the impending loss of his mother, a once dedicated doctor in Zimbabwe, now bedridden in a London home. The shift in her accent reflects both her deteriorating condition and the complexities of identity. As Peter navigates this poignant moment, themes of family, cultural dislocation, and the impact of illness on relationships emerge, highlighting the profound connection and tension between past and present.
The Impact of War and Political Change on White Rhodesia 1970-1980
This book tells the story of how White Rhodesians, three-quarters of whom were ill- prepared for revolutionary change, reacted to the "terrorist" war and the onset of black rule in the 1970s. It shows how internal divisions--both old and new--undermined the supposed unity of White Rhodesia, how most Rhodesians begrudgingly accepted the inevitability of black majority rule without adjusting to its implications, and how the self- appointed defenders of Western civilization sometimes adopted uncivilized methods of protecting the "Rhodesian way of life." This is a lively and accessible account, based on careful archival research and numerous personal interviews. It sets out to tell the story from the inside and to incorporate the diverse dimensions of the Rhodesian experience. The authors suggest that the Rhodesians were more differentiated than has often been assumed and that perhaps their greatest fault was an almost infinite capacity for self- delusion.