Tendi’s biography of Rex Nhongo/Solomon Mujuru is a tour de force. It accomplishes two impressive goals. First, it illuminates key aspects of Zimbabwe’s liberation war history and its postcolonial politics. Second, and most important for readers of this journal, it demonstrates the remarkable potential of biography to unpack history and politics even in the sometimes fraught terrain of postcolonial states.
Mujuru (known by his nom-de-guerre Nhongo until 1992, when he retired from the army) is a complex and controversial figure. He was second in command of the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (zanla) and, according to Tendi, played a key role in enabling Robert Mugabe to seize the leadership of the Zimbabwe African National Union (zanu) in 1976. He eventually led Zimbabwe’s national army, became a businessman of some note, and continued to play significant roles in zanu’s internal politics until his unexplained death in...