antessmer's review against another edition
4.0
This book was so sad... It amazes me that these things happen in the world. I guess I've taken living in America for granted. We don't deal with things like no running water, no electricity, beatings/torture and other atrocities. All I have are 'first world problems'. I just can't imagine. It's heartbreaking to think of a young child watching his mother be blindfolded, beaten, and raped, then blindfolding himself afterwards in an attempt to see her again. It is absolutely heart wrenching.
lenni's review against another edition
4.0
This book fell into my lap just as the non-coup against Mugabe was happening. A fascinating, terrifying book about the 2008 elections in which, through terror and torture, Mugabe forcibly prevented a run-off election after his party rigged it for him to win. Voter suppression at its most brutal. Fair warning: the book assumes a baseline knowledge of the history and politics of Zimbabawe.
filawless's review against another edition
5.0
A fascinating, if at times scary, read. Gives an insight into the events following the election in 2008 (which Mugabe lost).
bookwormmichelle's review against another edition
4.0
This was hard to read in many ways. One way is the extreme violence it, by necessity, records and portrays. One is the at times very awkward writing and more profanity than I like. But it is a valuable book--it is a vital record of the terrible depravity, misery and ruin that Zimbabwe has become--and that we have all watched, or ignored. Shame on all of us. The sad truth is that few know and fewer care about what just may be one of the most miserable countries on earth.
lukegoldstein's review against another edition
5.0
Every day when we wake up, we quickly take stock of our surroundings. Is light pouring through cracks in the bedroom curtains? Where is the end of the bed, so I don’t bang my foot against it in the dark again? How long do I have to snooze before I absolutely must get ready for work? These are the types of questions that plague many people each morning. Yet for others, those unlucky enough to be living under the rule of a corrupted and violent government, the only question each morning is more like, “Will I live to see another day?” History has shown many times before how the oppressed can quickly become the oppressor once power sinks its claws in and Zimbabwe, under the rule of President Robert Mugabe, now stands at the pinnacle, waving a flag boasting leadership and unity on one side, but the other a desperate cry for help. Which one will the world respond to?
The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe is a harrowing travelogue by Peter Godwin, detailing his trip back to his homeland after an election, which should have ousted their despotic leader, but instead unleashed a paranoid and chaotic fury unlike anything seen before. Peter moves in and out of danger, trying to document as clearly as he can the abuses and tragedies inflicted upon the people who dared to challenge the status quo and spoke their mind in this fledgling democracy.
The set up to this barbarism was a recent national election for Zimbabwe in 2008, where Robert Mugabe, the country’s longtime president, lost to Morgan Tsvangirai in bogus political theater gone wrong (or right, depending on which side you were on). Mugabe and all of his generals had the opportunity to walk away with plumped up golden parachutes and immunity from any number of crimes they committed during his reign. Instead, the madman showed his true colors, not the green, yellow, red and black stripes of their flag, but rather the green of greed and the red of rage towards those who voted against him. With the assistance of his generals, already hardened by previous extreme civil wars, and brutal war veterans who saw Mugabe as the savior and bringer of their true freedom, he set about intimidating, torturing and killing anyone who spoke out against his legitimacy as the one true ruler. Untold numbers have already died in the struggle for true democracy there and even more are living with the physical and mental scarring left behind by roving gangs of power-hungry war vets and brainwashed youth who have been taught torture and death dealing as a civil trade.
Godwin does an amazing job detailing out these horrors, while posting them up against the background of the natural beauty and serenity Zimbabwe can hold underneath. The country, itself awash with the blood of wars between the tribes and now overflowing once again with the bodies of its people, still manages to capture a sense of timelessness and purity in their countryside and jungles. Godwin tries to show that side of his home and prove that keeping those people and their traditions alive, outside the despotism of Mugabe, is truly something worth fighting for, possibly dying for.
The examples and scenarios of intimidation and murder unleashed by Mugabe go far beyond the pale of human rights abuses, causing the international community to balk at recognizing him as the true leader. The opposing party (known as the MDC) has refused to give up and endured years of assassinations and trumped up prison stays in conditions rivaling those in medieval times. Today, you will find a GNU (Government of National Unity) set up in Zimbabwe consisting of members of Mugabe’s cabinet and those of the MDC, but Godwin pulls back the sheen of stability to show the fallacy of this tenuous brotherhood of man. Heads of the opposition only agreed to stop the continued bloodshed and in hopes of staving off outright civil war, but with a new election coming around the bend, people are once again worried they will be targeted for their votes. Towns loyal to the MDC fear they will once again be burned, looted, pillaged and their women raped by roving gangs of Mugabe conscripts.
The Fear was the nickname given by the people to the blanket of intimidation laid over the country by Mugabe and the book reads like something from hundreds of years ago when countries were conquered and re-settled by vicious landlords. Yet, when you let it sink in that these horrible actions are being carried out even to this very day, it chills even the most disconnected reader. It is an eye-opening look into a world many of us would never know, or care to know, exists, but once you see it, you will not be able to look away. For those who do read the book and want to help the cause, there are various ways listed out on Godwin’s website.
The Fear: Robert Mugabe and the Martyrdom of Zimbabwe is a harrowing travelogue by Peter Godwin, detailing his trip back to his homeland after an election, which should have ousted their despotic leader, but instead unleashed a paranoid and chaotic fury unlike anything seen before. Peter moves in and out of danger, trying to document as clearly as he can the abuses and tragedies inflicted upon the people who dared to challenge the status quo and spoke their mind in this fledgling democracy.
The set up to this barbarism was a recent national election for Zimbabwe in 2008, where Robert Mugabe, the country’s longtime president, lost to Morgan Tsvangirai in bogus political theater gone wrong (or right, depending on which side you were on). Mugabe and all of his generals had the opportunity to walk away with plumped up golden parachutes and immunity from any number of crimes they committed during his reign. Instead, the madman showed his true colors, not the green, yellow, red and black stripes of their flag, but rather the green of greed and the red of rage towards those who voted against him. With the assistance of his generals, already hardened by previous extreme civil wars, and brutal war veterans who saw Mugabe as the savior and bringer of their true freedom, he set about intimidating, torturing and killing anyone who spoke out against his legitimacy as the one true ruler. Untold numbers have already died in the struggle for true democracy there and even more are living with the physical and mental scarring left behind by roving gangs of power-hungry war vets and brainwashed youth who have been taught torture and death dealing as a civil trade.
Godwin does an amazing job detailing out these horrors, while posting them up against the background of the natural beauty and serenity Zimbabwe can hold underneath. The country, itself awash with the blood of wars between the tribes and now overflowing once again with the bodies of its people, still manages to capture a sense of timelessness and purity in their countryside and jungles. Godwin tries to show that side of his home and prove that keeping those people and their traditions alive, outside the despotism of Mugabe, is truly something worth fighting for, possibly dying for.
The examples and scenarios of intimidation and murder unleashed by Mugabe go far beyond the pale of human rights abuses, causing the international community to balk at recognizing him as the true leader. The opposing party (known as the MDC) has refused to give up and endured years of assassinations and trumped up prison stays in conditions rivaling those in medieval times. Today, you will find a GNU (Government of National Unity) set up in Zimbabwe consisting of members of Mugabe’s cabinet and those of the MDC, but Godwin pulls back the sheen of stability to show the fallacy of this tenuous brotherhood of man. Heads of the opposition only agreed to stop the continued bloodshed and in hopes of staving off outright civil war, but with a new election coming around the bend, people are once again worried they will be targeted for their votes. Towns loyal to the MDC fear they will once again be burned, looted, pillaged and their women raped by roving gangs of Mugabe conscripts.
The Fear was the nickname given by the people to the blanket of intimidation laid over the country by Mugabe and the book reads like something from hundreds of years ago when countries were conquered and re-settled by vicious landlords. Yet, when you let it sink in that these horrible actions are being carried out even to this very day, it chills even the most disconnected reader. It is an eye-opening look into a world many of us would never know, or care to know, exists, but once you see it, you will not be able to look away. For those who do read the book and want to help the cause, there are various ways listed out on Godwin’s website.
filawless's review against another edition
5.0
A fascinating, if at times scary, read. Gives an insight into the events following the election in 2008 (which Mugabe lost).
majordang's review against another edition
2.0
Read half of this on the way to a vacation in Zimbabwe. It was reasonably informative, but the writing was clunky. Jumped from interview-like situation to interview-like situation on some sort of home-coming roadtrip. Wouldn't recommend solo - needed a lot of supplemental information to understand the violence and events described.
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