The Rhodesia Reading List

Why Haven't I Written This Before?

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I am a firm believer that the best way to learn about something, at least in the absence of doing it, and one can’t “do” history, is reading a number of books about it, preferably from different angles. Articles, documentaries, interviews, podcasts, and the like are all useful and have their place (otherwise I wouldn’t be doing this), but books tend to be best.

So, I’d like to do a reading list centered around Rhodesia, so that those who are interested in the subject, like I am, can learn more about it. Also, if you haven’t already make sure to check out my articles on why Rhodesia matters, how it battled with egalitarianism, the CIA’s involvement in promoting communism in Rhodesia, and why Jimmy Carter destroyed it.

1. The Great Betrayal by Ian Douglas Smith

The first book I just have to recommend, and have written about before,¹ is the most obvious. That is, of course, The Great Betrayal by Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Smith, reprinted later on as Bitter Harvest. In the book, a memoir mainly about his time in office as Rhodesia battled the world for its independence, Smith shows how the West, particularly America and Great Britain, betrayed Rhodesia.

In it, Smith notes in painful detail how everyone from Lord Carrington to Kissinger, John Vorster to Jimmy Carter, advanced communism in Rhodesia, doing out of either ideological desire or cowardice. In the end, that rotten group of scoundrels (and many more besides) succeeded in helping the communists destroy Rhodesia, effecting such by continually lying, directly aiding the communists, using embargoes to weaken the Rhodesians out, and using double standards to attack their cousins in Rhodesia while covering up their own domestic injustices.

It's a fabulous read, if also infuriating, and one that truly shows Western perfidy during the Cold War and how the goal of American involvement during the period was to destroy imperial powers and the Old Order abroad, not to fight for "liberty."²

In one of the more powerful quotes from the book, Smith describes how the British, who created Rhodesia, encouraged Brits to settle it, and they betrayed them, committed that betrayal, saying: “But most important, and above all else, was the treatment to which we had been subjected: the breaches of agreements, the double standards, the blatant deception and blackmail with which we were confronted. To put it crudely, we had had an absolute bellyful. Rhodesians simply wished to be left to lead their own lives. And in all honesty it had to be admitted that the Conservatives were as much to blame as Labour.”

Though it's expensive, you really ought to order a copy, if you can find one. Typically, the price falls to around $80 when interest falls, and there is a Kindle copy available, if you can stand e-books.

2. A Pride of Eagles: A History of the Rhodesian Air Force by Beryl Salt

By far the best general history of Rhodesia and the Bush War that I have read is A Pride of Eagles: A History of the Rhodesian Air Force by Beryl Salt. Though nominally about the Rhodesian air force, the reality is that Salt’s excellent study is a superb introduction to Rhodesian history, essentially from the founding of the country by the British South Africa Company.

That means that Salt is able to cover, with most chapters only being tangentially about the air force, how the Rhodesians built their country, served the Empire when called upon to do so in two world wars, and then were betrayed by the home country as soon as they rejected its egalitarian, anti-colonial thinking in the aftermath of World War 2. So, you get a full sense of how the country developed, fought, and fell over the course of a lifetime.

Further, this is a superb story of the Bush War and how it was fought. Again, though nominally about the air force, this covers the full sweep of tactics and technologies used, what the military and civilian leaders were thinking as they tested new tactics against the communists, and how they cleverly dodged sanctions to import much-needed military equipment, such as a few squadrons of planes and a few dozen helicopters. Those are subjects about which few other authors write at all, much less alongside a study of Rhodesian history generally or the war in total, so it’s a superbly informative history. Also, it’s fun to read, and is much less dense or depressing than The Great Betrayal.

As a side note, Winds of Destruction is very similar, being nominally about the air force, but in reality a superb history of the country and Bush War. Because it is so similar, I won’t do another section on it, and A Pride of Eagles is the better of the two. But, still, this one is fabulous and well worth taking the time to read.

3. Three Sips of Gin by Tim Bax

By far the best book about the on-the-ground infantry fighting in the Bush War is Three Sips of Gin by Tim Bax. In it, Bax, who served as a Selous Scout, one of the most elite units in the Rhodesian military, describes ending up fighting in the war after moving to Rhodesia largely on a lark.

What makes the book so interesting is that 1) Bax came from a colonial family outside Rhodesia, and so has a unique perspective on colonialism generally that he brings to the situation inside Rhodesia, and 2) that he describes how the infantry fighting was fought across a wide variety of situations. As the Bush War was a colonial war fought mainly by light infantry, that confluence of factors makes Bax’s work well worth the read.

And it is, if infuriating, as all books about the war are, given how it went, a thoroughly enjoyable read because Bax is a better writer than the other veterans who wrote memoirs (at least of the ones I have read). So, as he describes the fighting, the attempts to cooperate with the mostly incompetent Portuguese (who were fighting similar wars against commie rebels in Mozambique and Angola), scouting in the dense bush, and the general chaos and anarchy of the war, it is a really good read rather than a slog, as many wartime memoirs turn into. That makes it not just more readable, but easier to digest the important details.

So, while also painful reading about how the country fell despite the great men fighting for it, it is an excellent story about the war from a man who fought in it, and the title is quite clever once you get into the story.

4. The Equus Men: Rhodesia’s Mounted Infantry: The Grey’s Scouts 1896-1980 by Alexandre Binda

Much as Three Sips of Gin is useful in that it shows the reality of light infantry conflict in the Bush War, which is to say most of the war, The Equus Men: Rhodesia’s Mounted Infantry: The Grey’s Scouts 1896-1980 is incredibly useful as a study in that it shows the massive material constraints the Rhodesians were operating under, a fact that might be missed if you were to just rely on books like Fireforce by Chris Cocks that show Rhodesian use of aerial technology to great effect.

The sad fact of the Bush War is that the UN-demanded embargo, one enforced with a vengeance by America and Great Britain, meant that it had a great deal of difficulty in importing the equipment it needed to fight the war effectively. That was particularly true of aerial equipment, such as cargo planes and helicopters, that is critical for surveillance and mobility in a modern guerrilla war.

So, the Rhodesians turned to horse-mounted troops, and did so with somewhat surprising levels of success. While not as fast as motorized or aerial troops, the Grey’s Scouts could go pretty much anywhere and do so far faster than the foot-bound communist rebels. Thus, cavalry got a new lease on life and horse-mounted troopers were taking the fight to the rebels.

Interestingly, the unit was made possible because of Rhodesia’s unique culture, one that had enough of an aristocratic influence to have strong traditions surrounding horses and horse riding.³ So, much like with Teddy Roosevelt’s polo players and cowboys forming the Rough Riders, the Grey’s Scouts could draw on a great many skilled young horsemen and teach them how to use that skill at riding to their country’s advantage. Reading about how they did so, and the successes they had, is fascinating.

So, The Equus Men is a must-read for those who want to learn about the embargo-related challenges the Rhodesians overcame as they fought the communists, and how they tried every trick in the book to do so.

5. Rhodesia Accuses by AJA Peck

Last up is Rhodesia Accuses by AJA Peck. In this book, part of which was a letter to the Times of London, a Rhodesian, Peck successfully dismantles the Western accusations against Rhodesia and shows why they are wrongheaded and rooted in a perverse ideology.

Particularly, Peck exposes how Western governments were ignoring a great many horrid atrocities carried out by the barbaric rebels, including crimes committed against the black Rhodesian population, so that Mugabe and Nkomo could be framed as paragons of “civil rights” and “democracy.” It was all perverse and awful, but a running theme of Western attitudes toward and rhetoric regarding Rhodesia more or less from the mid-50s on.⁴

What makes this somewhat obscure, John Birch Society-published book useful as a read is that it shows what normal Rhodesians thought of the ridiculous Western attacks on them, and what the truth of the conflict was. Peck shows that, contrary to then-popular belief, the communist terrorists were neither popular rebels nor “the good guys.” In reality, the black Rhodesians sided with the government against them, and were tortured and killed for their refusals to aid the terrorists in attacking white farmers. But all of that was ignored in the name of foisting Western egalitarianism on the small, prosperous republic.⁵ That aspect of the conflict can’t be emphasized enough, and Peck’s short, readable work exposes and explains it quite well.

Rhodesia by Robin Moore was written by an American in Rhodesia for an American audience, but is otherwise similar and worth reading, as it gets to much the same issues and exposes why American support for the communist rebels was so abominable.

Bonus: Ones I Haven’t Read Yet, but Plan to Read Soon

Two books that seem important for understanding the Rhodesian experience, but which I haven’t yet gotten to are So Far and No Further!: Rhodesia's Bid For Independence During the Retreat From Empire 1959-1965 and Under the Skin: The Death of White Rhodesia.

Though I haven’t read either, both should probably be on this list because they show why Rhodesia declared independence (though A Pride of Eagles) covers this as well, and how racial strife stirred up by the communist terrorists and their campaign of terror eventually ended it as a state. Both came highly recommended to me, and I plan on reading them sometime this year, God willing. So, though I can’t speak as to their content, I can confidently say that they are worth adding to your Rhodesia reading list.

Please let me know in the comments if you have any other books you think should be on here!

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3. Rory Duncan discusses that some in this episode:

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