From his anti-colonial military leadership to the presidency of independent Mozambique, Samora Machel held a reputation as a revolutionary hero to the oppressed. Although killed in a 1987 plane crash, for many Mozambicans his memory lives on as a beacon of hope for the future.
The precipitous rise and controversial fall of a formidable African leader.
Samora Machel (1933-1986), the son of small-town farmers, led his people through a war against their Portuguese colonists and became the first president of the People's Republic of Mozambique.
Machel's military successes against a colonial regime backed by South Africa, Rhodesia, the United States, and its NATO allies enhanced his reputation as a revolutionary hero to the oppressed people of Southern Africa. In 1986, during the country's civil war, Machel died in a plane crash under circumstances that remain uncertain.
Allen and Barbara Isaacman lived through many of these changes in Mozambique and bring personal recollections together with archival research and interviews with others who knew Machel or participated in events of the revolutionary or post-revolutionary years.
Title: Mozambiques Samora Machel: A Life Cut Short (Ohio Short Histories of Africa)
Author: Albie Sachs,Barbara S. Isaacman,Allen F. Isaacman
ISBN: 9780821424230
Binding:
Publisher: Ohio University Press
Publication Date: 2020-09-08
Number of Pages: 258
Weight: 0.2001 kg
Allen the idealist and Barbara the sceptic joined forces to provide us with a portrait of a great African leader that is rich, loving, and incisive. -- Albie Sachs, from the foreword
Essential reading for anyone trying to understand the impact of Samora Machel on Mozambique and the African continent. -- William Minter, editor of AfricaFocus Bulletin
Acutely attuned to the politics of memory, the authors scrutinize a diverse-often conflicting-array of public and private archival sources, memoirs, scholarly literature, and oral sources to assess the life of this remarkable, complex African leader. -- Edward A. Alpers, author of East Africa and the Indian Ocean
Lively, accessible, and ideal for undergraduate teaching and the wider reading public. -- Elizabeth Schmidt, author of Foreign Intervention in Africa after the Cold War: Sovereignty, Responsibility, and the War on Terror
A comprehensive, up-to-date, expanded perspective on Samora Machel's political thought, his contributions to international socialism, and his leadership. The authors knew Machel, and their exceptional access enriches the text with accounts of his personal life and controversial death. -- Kathleen Sheldon, author of Pounders of Grain: A History of Women, Work, and Politics in Mozambique
