A quarter of a century ago, in 1998, Eric T. Young published a review essay in Africa: Journal of the International African Institute in which he argued that a “general military history” of Zimbabwe's war of independence (1965–1980) “remains to be written.” This remains largely the case today, particularly because of the lack of available archival sources. Crucial materials in the Rhodesian archives were deliberately destroyed at the end of the war by government and military officials or smuggled to South Africa. Likewise, the liberation movements’ archives remain closed to all but a handful of scholars, such as Josephine Nhongo-Simbanegavi.
However, some smuggled Rhodesian archives have been made available to a wider group of researchers, affording an opportunity to fill this void. Charles D. Melson's book uses Rhodesian archival sources and interviews with Rhodesian veterans to good effect to shed light on some hitherto murky areas of the Rhodesian war...