{"product_id":"of-land-and-spirits-alan-r-m-thrush-9798602312577","title":"Of Land and Spirits","description":"\u003cb\u003e'The finest 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.'\u003c\/b\u003e - J R T Wood - historian and author \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eBattle action from the African bush ...\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e... 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 50 000 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 napalm to come crashing and burning into hut, trench and bunker. Waiting for the soldiers, pouring down from the sky. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis 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. No quarter is given. It is the end of Empire in Africa: Rhodesian history, and Zimbabwean history, too. \u003ci\u003eOf Land and Spirits\u003c\/i\u003e is the best-selling classic of the final years of that war - 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 \u003ci\u003eswikiros\u003c\/i\u003e - 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 contest the ancestral land. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis is 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. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003ePraise from the media: \u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'Stark and realistic.' - \u003ci\u003eMail \u0026amp; Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'Vivid, accurate, and often lyrical.' - \u003ci\u003ePersonality Magazine\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'On a par with \u003ci\u003eAll Quiet on the Western Front\u003c\/i\u003e or Henry Williamson's \u003ci\u003eA Test to Destruction\u003c\/i\u003e for its war writing; the equal of \u003ci\u003eMukiwa\u003c\/i\u003e for descriptions of Rhodesia.' - W G Eaton - Australian Press \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'Thrush has produced the best of the genre.' - \u003ci\u003eThe Citizen\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'Fascinating. Throbs with authenticity.' - John Gordon Davis - author of \u003ci\u003eHold My Hand I'm Dying\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'Clearest yet depiction of the Rhodesian bush war ... from both sides.' - \u003ci\u003eThe Star\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003eTo read a story sample, click on the book cover.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eGenres: historical fiction; war fiction; political fiction; Zimbabwean history; saga.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Alan R. M. Thrush\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 8602312571\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798602312577\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 02\/04\/2020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 468\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.81h x 5.06w x 0.94d","brand":"Alan R. M. Thrush","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":43942496600319,"sku":"9798602312577","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/products\/img_cb2ba03e-188c-4e50-95b7-b46786aea24c.jpg?v=1681492708","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/of-land-and-spirits-alan-r-m-thrush-9798602312577","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}