Download or read book Of Land and Spirits written by Alan Thrush and published by . This book was released on 2020-02-04 with total page 467 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Battle action from Britain's last colony in Africa ... A uniquely sour taste filling his mouth: strain and fear. In peripheral vision, Corporal Sibanda's wiry form moving parallel with him, rifle traversing slowly from side to side like the head of a cobra, covering every twist and turn of the bank ahead. Andrew's gunner on the other bank and, overhead in the rain, the roaring whine of the gunship and the incoming second wave, drowning out all other sound except the snapping rifle fire and the occasional snatch of radio conversation coming over the handset dangling from his yoke ... 'The best piece of writing, novels or otherwise, on the fighting in the Rhodesian bush. Thrush writes skilfully from personal experience that lends strong credibility to a work that he protests is pure fiction. The historical background is accurate - and in some instances revealing.' - Professor Richard Wood - History Department, University of Durban-Westville. Zimbabwe-Rhodesia - March 1980. It is a time of turmoil and suffering as white rule gives way to black nationalism in a part of British colonial Africa riven by a war that has cost 35 000 dead and untold wounded. In the humid, pre-dawn gloom, Rhodesian Army units are poised to re-group and attack assembled guerrilla forces. Results of the internationally supervised elections are seeping through: an overwhelming vote for Robert Mugabe. In camps across the country, twenty thousand guerrillas stand to their weapons, waiting for the frantan to come crashing and burning into hut, trench and bunker. Waiting for the soldiers, pouring down from the sky. The fight is to the death - the climax of eight years of war between two allied guerrilla armies and an established government which has dared to unilaterally declare its independence from England; and which is willing to fight to defend it. It is the end of Empire in Africa: Rhodesian history, and Zimbabwean history, too. This is the best-selling classic of the five years of civil war leading to the birth of Zimbabwe - the story of Andrew Scott, John Bruton, George Sibanda, Kuretu, Mpehla and many others of the Rhodesian Army as they fight with great skill a war they cannot win. For even as the kills mount, so the numbers of the enemy inside the country grow ever larger. It is also the story of a rural population and its swikiros - the spirit mediums who lead and guard - won over to the revolutionary side by Jason Mavunha, Elias Chimombe and other guerrillas of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army who have dared to fight for the ancestral land. This is political fiction and war fiction at its finest - the story of a white community wanting to hold on to standards and tradition despite the cost in human life, without realising the effect this is having on their sons who must carry on the fight. Of a black community whose sons serve on both sides, and which suffers reprisal and atrocity. Nowhere has the sheer weariness of war been better portrayed, with its numbing boredom interspersed with gut-wrenching excitement. There is bravery, cowardice, comradeship and, above all, the loss that comes from civil war. Praise from the media for this historical fiction saga: 'Stark and realistic.' - Mail & Guardian. 'Vivid, accurate, and often lyrical.' - Personality. 'On a par with All Quiet on the Western Front or Henry Williamson's A Test to Destruction for its war writing; the equal of Mukiwa for descriptions of Rhodesia.' - W G Eaton - Australian Press. 'Thrush has produced the best of the genre.' - The Citizen. 'A must-read for any lover of African historical fiction.' - book reviewer. 'Fascinating. Throbs with authenticity.' - John Gordon Davis - author of Hold My Hand I'm Dying. 'Clearest yet depiction of the Rhodesian bush war ... from both sides.' - The Star. Genres: war books fiction; bush war fiction; political thriller; Zimbabwean history; saga. To read a story sample, click on the cover photo above.