The Great Betrayal: The Memoirs of Africa's Most Controversial Leader - Ian Smith

This Very special Copy was dedicated and Autographed by the then Prime Minister of Rhodesia, (now Zimbabwe) Ian Smith. It was dedicated to Dave Robertson who is a renowned Artist (see at bottom for more info).

The Great Betrayal: The Memoirs of Africa's Most Controversial Leader - Ian Smith

Hardcover

ISBN 1857821769

Publisher: Blake Publishing Ltd 1997

Used - Very Good+. This book is in very good condition. The DJ has some limited signs of wear and tear and the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. The book is protected with a Cellophane cover.

IAN SMITH, Rhodesia’s former Prime Minister, is a man with the power to excite powerful emotions in all who hear his name. To those who revere him he is a hero, a mighty leader, a man whose formidable integrity led him into head-to-head confrontation with the Labour Government of Britain in the 1960s.

To others he is a demon, a reactionary whose intransigence long delayed majority rule in an important corner of Africa. The truth, as this revealing and long-awaited autobiography reveals, lies somewhere between these two extremes.

Ian Smith’s story begins in a small African town where he was brought up with a strong tradition of service to the community. Interrupting his university career, he fought for the RAF in the Second World War. He was shot down over Italy and escaped by hiking over the freezing Alps in his socks.

He entered politics in 1948, shortly after the war ended. He vehemently believed that the plans of Whitehall were not in the best interests of his people and finally declared unilateral independence. His dramatic rebellion against the Crown forfeited the support of the British establishment, but earned him the admiration of many ordinary people. Smith devoted his life to defeating sanctions and the armed onslaught of African Nationalists.

He finally managed to bring majority rule to Rhodesia in 1979. His successor, Bishop Muzorewa, refused to be advised by Ian Smith and fell for the guile of Lord Carrington instead. The Marxist Robert Mugabe took over the reins of power shortly afterwards, exactly as Smith had warned he would.

Ian Smith brings his story to the present day by detailing excesses of power by President Mugabe,and revealing the way in which Mugabe has crushed his Matabele opposition to create the virtual dictatorship which exists in Zimbabwe today.

• Who is Dave Robertson - Born in Zimbabwe and based in Cape Town, Dave Robertson is a self-taught abstract painter, photographer and print-maker, who spent the early part of his artistic journey, working in the film industry as an art-director. In between film projects he would follow his passion for photography, which was primarily a form of social commentary often concerned with documenting marginalised lifestyles.