'The Urban Roots of Democracy and Political Violence in Zimbabwe' details a democratic tradition developed in the 1940s and 1950s, and a movement that would fall victim to an increasingly elitist and divisive political culture by the 1960s. Providing biographical sketches of key personalities within the genealogy of nationalist politics, Timothy Scarnecchia weaves an intricate narrative that traces the trajectories of earlier democratic traditions in Zimbabwe, including women's political movements, township organizations, and trade unions. This work suggests that intense rivalries for control of the nationalist leadership after 1960, the 'sell-out' politics of that period, and Cold War funding for rival groups contributed to a unique political impasse, ultimately resulting in the largely autocratic and violent political state today. The author further proposes that this recourse to political violence, 'top-down' nationalism, and the abandonment of urban democratic traditions are all hallmarks of a particular type of nationalism equally unsustainable in Zimbabwe then as it is now. Timothy Scarnecchia is assistant professor of African history at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio.

[An] original and intriguing book. [.] Scarnecchia skilfully moves his analysis between the local, national and international dimensions of the nationalist struggle in order to show how the deepening fault lines of class, gender and nation undermined the coherence of the nationalist movement and fuelled a politics of intimidation. In doing so he effectively undermines Zimbabwe's nationalist historiography of anticolonial triumph, and adds a valuable contribution to a growing revisionist historiography of African nationalism that seeks new explanations for the pernicious tendencies of African regimes.'

Source: International Journal of African Historical Studies

Scarnecchia's exploration of the roots of nationalist violence in Zimbabwe is an important and provocative work that is sure to incite debate, not least because of its salience for the current crisis in Zimbabwe.'

Gary Kynoch Source: African History