Journal of Social Development in Africa (1995), 10,1,107-117 
Book Reviews 
Forensic Social Work: Legal Aspects of Professional Practice, Robert L Barker 
and Douglas M Branson, The Haworth Press, New York, 1993, ISBN: 1-56024- 
351-1 (h/b); ISBN: 1-56024-352-X (p/b), 139 pp inc index, Price: $26,95 (h/b); 
$19,95 (p/b). 
With the democratisation process currently developing all over the world and more 
recently also in Southern Africa, Mozambique being an excellent current example, 
we cannot help being amazed at the varied complexity and diversity of the created 
order. The attempts of governments to unite their people in Governments of 
National Unity is not just a faddish attempt to respond to the ecological, economic, 
social and political holocaust that threatens to engulf humankind. Social work at 
its core attempts to deal with the social problems of humankind and in the struggle 
we find competing responsibilities that all demand our attention. The problem is 
more acute for those who sincerely want to do what is right. 
One of the competing responsibilities we as social workers encounter is our 
legal responsibility towards our clients and our organisations. This is what Barker 
and Branson (1993) write about. For social workers to effectively do their work, 
they will need to know more about the legal system of their specific countries. Even 
though the authors wrote the book for the American legal system it will not be 
difficult to customise the guidelines the book proposes to any local legal system. 
It is of the utmost necessity that social workers know and understand their 
country's legal system, the general procedures and the roles of the various persons 
involved. "This knowledge should be based on serious study rather than watching 
television courtroom dramas..." Barker and Branson (1993:10). It is necessary for 
social workers and other professionals in the helping profession to know what is 
admissible as evidence in a court of law. Workers must know what information to 
obtain, legally and ethically. In doing this workers can ensure that their testimony 
in court will be effective and to the benefit of society as a whole. 
Other issues Barker and Branson (1993) describe are that a social worker 
should take cognisance of aspects concerning malpractice, ethics, legal and 
professional credentials, adjudication processes and procedures, and preparing for 
litigation. It is a great danger for social workers to assume that social work can 
function independently of the law. We have to view the work of the social worker 
within the landscape of the whole. It is then that one gain balance and perspective. 
The book is stimulating to read, the contents understandable and easy to follow. 
It will be a useful book for academics and students in social work. The book is a 
must for practitioners in the field because of the fact that forensic social work is a 
new professional speciality. 
Reviewed byJPHKasselman, Career Planning, South African Police, Pretoria, 
South Africa.
108 Book Reviews 
Sex and Gender Hierarchies, Barbara Diane Miller (ed), Cambridge University 
Press, 1993, ISBN: 0-521-42368-6 (p/b), 401 pp inc index, Price: £40. 
This collection of works from anthropologists makes a statement "against absolutes, 
biological determinism, and eternal inequalities in our lives" (p22) by 
examining different forms of sex and gender hierarchies in human and non-human 
primate societies. Anthropologists have historically searched for "cultural universals" 
but according to the contributors to this volume, apart from the biological 
facts of genitals and chromosomes, sex and gender hierarchical universals appear 
not to exist 
There has been a movement over the last 20 years or so in anthropology to study 
women. As in many other social science disciplines anthropology has traditionally 
been male-oriented. Men tended to dominate the field as researchers, male models 
were presented as human models and male areas of interest comprised the subjects 
of investigation. Anthropology texts were typically described as "studies of man". 
Consequently feminist anthropologists adopted new areas of study relevant to 
women and new methods of investigation that ensured a more balanced perspective. 
This edited collection is an example of this movement. Studies in sex and 
gender hierarchies are included from the various anthropology sub-disciplines of 
archaeology, linguistics, sociocultural aspects, etc. 
Assessing gender inequalities is complex and both "etic" and "emic" approaches 
are represented in the book. Etic are those measures devised by social 
analysts and include the division of labour by sex, inheritance rights and marriage 
forms; those used by physical anthropologists and archaeologists include skeletal 
evidence and nutrition. Emic measures are those measures that are only valid to the 
participants within aparticular culture, such as indicators of status taken from myth 
and folklore, and is the method most often usedby cultural anthropologists because 
of their ability to directly question their subjects. This is an interesting collection 
in part due to mis attempt to bring together the sub-disciplines and different 
methods of inquiry, all with the common purpose of investigating the complexities 
of sex and gender hierarchies. 
There arc seventeen contributions to this volume, threeprovide an overview and 
theoretical perspective, eight examine sex and gender hierarchies from conception 
to death, and six discuss the complexity and change involved in gender hierarchies. 
Chapters include, for example, Zilman's examination on the evolution of sex 
differences among non-human primates; the evolution of human gender hierarchies 
by Marvin Harris; analysis of mother-child interactions and their relationship 
to the visibility of motherhood by Och; variations in male-female involvement in 
offspring care among non-human primates by Wright; Herdt's chapter on boy's 
sexual and gender identities in Papua; and Cohen and Bennett's skeletal studies of 
gender hierarchies in pre-history.
Book Reviews 109 
Although a survey of human societies in the 1990s would disclose most 
(although not all) societies to be male-dominated, several authors in this volume 
stress the importance of studying the reasons for this. Particularly helpful in this 
type of investigation is the research on non-human primate societies where male 
dominance is not so evident Archaeology also discloses evidence that patriarchy 
has not been the norm historically. 
Sex and gender hierarchies cannot be explained by genitals and chromosomes: 
the term "gender" relates to social constructions, meaning that gender hierarchies 
are not natural but are cultural and are consequently subject to change. The 
emphasis on change in this book prompts the reader to question any previous 
assumptions relating to gender hierarchies and urges them to consider avenues 
through which gender hierarchies can be transformed. 
Gender hierarchies are one of the most pervasive forms of inequality. Gender 
is used as a basis of a system of discrimination which has led to women being 
disadvantaged in all spheres of human society, in education, nutrition and employment 
As such this volume is an important and valuable contribution to our 
understanding of how this inequality can be challenged in the world today. 
Reviewed by Christine Marlow, Fulbright Scholar, University of New Mexico, 
USA (on attachment at School of Social Work, Zimbabwe). 
Clinical Social Work Supervision (2nd edition), Carlton E Munson, The Haworth 
Press, New York, 1993, ISBN 1-56024-285-X (p/b), 492 pp inc index, Price N/K. 
Dr Munson argues that good clinical supervision is a necessity, not a luxury in the 
current practice world characterised by increasing demands for accountability, 
extremely complex and difficult situations, and ethical dilemmas. Clinical Social 
Work Supervision is an attempt to provide social workers with an essential understanding 
of the supervision process, ways to enhance the value of supervision and 
the challenges and opportunities for supervision in special settings, client groups, 
and therapeutic models. The book incorporates research findings, case examples, 
as well as more theoretical discussions. 
Dr Munson presents the history of practice knowledge and social work supervision 
as a basis for understanding current practice and supervision concerns. He 
then discusses the important role of values and ethics in social work practice and 
the important role of the supervisor in grounding social work practice within the 
ethical requirements of social work. According to Munson, supervisors tend to be 
either active (more direct) or reactive (more indirect) as well as tending to be 
philosophers, theoreticians, or technicians. Although Munson indicates that the 
important issue in supervision is the use of the appropriate style as the need arises,
110 Book Reviews 
he tends to be especially critical of the philosophical and theoretical styles. While 
supervisees also have a style in supervision, this style is strongly influenced by that 
of the supervisor. 
The author provides an excellent discussion of useful techniques which can be 
used by the supervisor, including an educational assessment of the supervisee, case 
material, case presentations, questions, contracting and reading. He discusses use 
of audiovisual and action techniques in some detail. Good supervision should recognise 
the level of knowledge of the supervise and provide continuity. Although 
social workers are often reluctant to recognise authority issues, it is important to 
understand the inherent role of authority in the supervision process and the 
organisational context 
Munson argues that both theory and technique are important but warns against 
using theory in an abstract way not tied to the practice demands facing the 
supervisee. Supervisors need to be well-grounded in the theories they use with 
supervisees and to develop useful interventions based on the theory. Evaluation of 
practice is an essential role of supervision. Effective supervision includes constructive 
use of criticism of clinical material to promote professional growth. 
Given the organisational context of most social work practice, supervisors need to 
help staff deal with administrative matters as effectively as possible. 
In view of the stressful nature of social work practice, supervisors also need to 
recognise the signs of stress in their supervisees and themselves and to find 
appropriate ways to address it. 
Munson also discusses some of the unique challenges facing social work and 
supervision in several settings and practice modes, medical, gerontology, criminal 
justice (especially group homes), rural communities, family practice, and feminist 
practice. The book concludes with a discussion regarding the need to be specific 
about both the creative and scientific aspects of practice. 
I appreciated the author's insistence upon drawing boundaries between supervision 
and therapy and his concern for techniques used in supervision and teaching 
in general which tend to blur these distinctions and place students and supervisees 
in vulnerable positions. In his discussion of administration issues, the author 
describes several types of administrators. Unfortunately all of these types are 
extremely negative and give a needlessly problematic image of the situation facing 
supervisors. In his description of family therapy he presents a very helpful grid for 
understanding the role of many different family therapy techniques. Munson is 
very skeptical of the value of role playing in supervision; but students in family 
therapy classes have found it very useful provided adequate care is taken in the 
structuring and in the debriefing process. 
As the preceding description suggests, this is a relatively comprehensive 
treatment of supervision and should be useful for beginning supervisors and 
thought provoking for experienced supervisors. The definition of clinical practice 
used in this book is sufficiently broad to include social work activities with
Book Reviews 111 
individuals and families in various settings. Given the very complicated situations 
facing many families in Africa and the limited social work resources available, 
good supervision would seem particularly important in providing effective services. 
Reviewed by Mary P van Hook, Northwestern College, Orange City, Iowa, USA. 
Adjustment in Africa: Reforms, Results, and the Road Ahead, A World Bank 
Policy Research Report, The World Bank, Washington D C, 1994, ISBN: 0-8213- 
2787-9. Price: N/K. 
Implementing Structural Adjustment Programmes in Africa has not been an easy 
task. This is clearly demonstrated in the report made on policy research by the 
World Bank. A study on adjustment was carried out on twenty-nine countries in 
Africa, and only six showed some improvement in macro-economic policies and 
stronger results in economic performance. 
The survey examined macro-economic and sectoral policies and discovered 
that poor policies were largely to blame because they did not facilitate growth. 
Heavy government spending also contributed to slow growth in the economy. 
Those countries with better policies achieved faster growth, but generally government 
spending was high, increasing from the early 1960s and reaching a peak of 
17% of GDP in 1988. Even though Africa suffered a fall in terms of trade between 
1970-80, it was still expected to pay for its external loans. The report clearly 
demonstrates how loans and grants affect public income and how changes in terms 
of trade have an impact on private income. 
The report reveals to the interest of the reader how the macro-economic 
situation reached a crisis proportion in sub-Saharan Africa. Scholars will be 
interested to see how the report explains the impact of debt crisis in our African 
countries and how this has led Africa to lose its access to commercial lending. The 
World Bank explains that the sub-Saharan countries can improve balance of 
payments by reestablishing a balance between income and spending. It cites 
pitfalls that befall Africa and goes on to explain some of the inappropriate 
responses that perpetuate. 
Sub-Saharan African countries are supposed to have promoted in unleashing 
markets, accompanied by high rates of investment in order for competition to help 
them improve their allocation of economic resources. Thereportpointsoutthatthe 
World Bank in 1991 had recommended countries to try to get price signals right 
to promote a good business atmosphere. The survey revealed that governments did 
not handle agricultural and trade issues satisfactorily but did well in reducing 
administration costs and in the rationing of foreign exchange.
112 Book Reviews 
Readers who reside in countries where structural adjustment is implemented 
and retrenchment is in process will find Chapter Four absorbing because it deals 
extensively with the problems of the public sector and lack of evidence of 
significant public enterprise reform. 
The World Bank does not only study why and how sub-Sahara Africa did not 
succeed but also how reforms are paying off. The part on 'pay off is of interest. 
It deals with positive issues in the structural adjustment exercise. The section will 
be of interest to those interested in understanding how macro-economic stability 
and improved prices for exports, especially agricultural exports benefited some of 
the countries concerned. 
Most sub-Sahara African countries embarked on development programmes 
with an intention of eradicatingpoverty. This has been very slow in Africa because 
of slow economic growth, rapid population growth, and fragile resource bases. 
Chapter Six clearly puts across reasons as to why a large number of people in 
Africa are poor. It also discusses methods of enhancing the capabilities of the poor 
and tackling poverty through increasing GDP per capita, by securing the right kind 
of growth and investing in social services. Since poverty and environment are often 
linked, this section will help the reader understand the interelatedness of the two 
phenomena and what could be done to reduce poverty. The World Bank regards 
investment in people as the right kind of growth and they defend their view against 
the sub-Saharan African accusation that structural adjustment is hurting a lot of 
people. The defence given that structural adjustment contributes to faster GDP per 
capita growth is accounted here in a very defensive way to convince implementors 
to proceed with it To a person who does not have an experience of the effects of 
SAP the argument is very convincing. 
This World Bank Policy Research Report is an educative thesis for scholars, 
economists and other parties interested in understanding why Africa has undergone 
SAP, what went wrong in the process of implementation, where the poor are, 
what has been achieved and what next can be done if the exercise is to continue. 
Reviewedby VioletMatimba.Lecturer, School of Social Work, Harare, Zimbabwe. 
Uganda - Social Sectors A World Bank Country Study, The World Bank, Washington 
D C, 1993,196 pp, ISBN: 0-8213-2713-5. Price: $11,95. 
Uganda, a country once a showcase of Africa, has depreciated during the last three 
decadesasaresultof its declining social indicators. Afterreadingthe whole report 
one would feel total reconstruction and restructuring is required in all sectors if 
restoration of functioning is to occur.
Book Reviews 113 
This report from the World Bank on a demographic, health and education 
survey shows high fertility among Ugandans and there is no indication of decline 
as recorded in the results of 1980s. The situation seems the same as one Ugandan 
pointed out in his report for the year 1993 that Ugandans have high regard for their 
fertility as cultural aspects are attached to having many children. The report 
revealed that Uganda is the second lowest among one hundred and twenty 
countries in the contraceptive prevalence rate. A glance at the data will inform 
readers that Uganda has a problem in achieving economic growth, because this 
is incompatible with high population rates. 
Poor health conditions are reflected by the crude death and mortality rates. 
Because of the AIDS pandemic life expectancy at birth is estimated to decrease to 
43 years by the year 1995. The ratio of population growth and dependency depicted 
in the report is scaring. Uganda plunged into a bad health status as a result of 
perpetual internal conflict and the severely declined socioeconomic status of most 
of the people. It is not surprising to read that stuntedness is common because where 
socioeconomic standards are low, household food intake is also low. Though 
Uganda is rich in fruit and food production there is acute under-nutrition because 
most protein providing foods are expensive to purchase, most energy-giving foods 
are sold in the market to raise money for other purposes than food, leaving less 
nutritious bananas for consumption as stable food. 
According to the survey, education indicators for adults are very low and the 
section on this describes educational attainment and enrolment in detail. Recommendations 
in the report centre around investment in human resources, improvement 
on health education and nutritional conditions if Uganda it so achieve 
success. The report reveals that there is some improvement in female students 
enrolment. It reveals a very interesting issue of cost sharing between government 
and parents which most African countries have avoided, for fear of exerting more 
financial pressures indirectly on parents. 
Unlike other sub-Saharan countries Uganda is constrained in effecting efficient 
social services as a result of low revenue effort, inadequate system of prioritising 
government expenditure, and lack of a good living wage for government employees. 
The report touches on issues that are of concern to the development of the 
country as a whole as well as those issues that would have promoted economic 
growth if macro-economic policies were improved. These are issues that involve 
domestic income, budgeting and planning central government, logistical programmes 
for health and education and health family planning services and the 
wage bill. 
African scholars, demographers and social scientists would be fascinated to 
read the Ugandan report as it reflects and confirms some of the problems that have 
been cited before as impediments to Africa's economic growth. The section on 
public service is a true reflection of misappropriation of funds which most
* Book Reviews 
jT^untries have experienced. TTie section on "ghost workers" who were said to be 
: the payroll is fascinating and frustrating at the same as it brings out the true 
Jture of experiences faced not only by Ugandabut other countries in sub-Saharan 
These are some of the issues that makes the report interesting. 
The findings on the research on social sectors give insight to the situation of 
**'Smda as a Third World country and at the same time poses a lot of questions as 
*w many and which other countries fall within a similar situation to that of 
^lnda. This book is suitable for social development planners and scholars and 
^* Id be included in their socioeconomic literature. 
Viewed by Violet Matimba, Lecturer, School of Social Work, Harare, Zimbabwe 
^^ powering People Building Community, Civil Associations and Legality in 
'•"ica, Richard Sandbrook and Mohamed Halfani (eds), Centre for Urban and 
ity Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, 1993,209 pp, ISBN: 0-7727- 
-2 Price: $14,95 + GST. 
r 
* s volume contains the contributions of participants to the International Confer- 
*"C:« of Civil Associations held in Arusha in August 1991. Taken as whole, it 
^ an overview of the aims, strategies and tactics of a range of NGOs in 
^Iglophone Sub-Saharan Africa and the obstacles faced by them as they confront, 
r Attempt to negotiate with, the state. With over 30 papers, the editors clearly faced 
r*Cfc1blems of organisation and presentation. To a certain extent, this has been 
^ l v e d by gathering papers into sections, providing an introduction (Sandbrook) 
a conclusion (Halfani) and the insertion of brief editorial linking passages 
^^veen the sections. 
Sandbrook's introduction notes that the themes of popular participation and 
**lx)werment of people havefeatured centrally in awiderangeof prescriptions for 
^litical reform and economic recovery in Africa and raises the problem that these 
**ms have a wide range of meanings. However, as he makes it clear, the book 
s f l ccts the focus of the Conference, namely the problems involved in engendering 
"^ider consciousness of political, legal, social and economic rights and building 
isatainable, coherent and popular organisations that can defend and extend these 
Sluts against undemocratic states and the elites closely associated with them. 
The first section of the book contains JuhusNyerere'sopeningaddress(Refleco 
i n s on Empowering), a record of some of the discussion which followed and 
t^Gssentations on general themes by Halfani and Ampaw. Nyerere, whilst acknowl- 
%5lng the failures of the post-colonial state, interventionist policies and the 
"•actice of socialism, warns against taking a too confrontational stance against the 
a*se and of the dangers of promoting sectional factionalism which could under-
Book Reviews 115 
mine national unity and destroy an already fragile national state. In the relatively 
frank exchange of views that follows and in Halfani's and Ampaw's papers two 
main points are made. Firstly, that the over-extended African state has to be 
confronted and secondly that, without addressing social and economic inequalities, 
attempts to institute political democracy and legal rights are likely to prove 
ineffectual. 
The rest of the contributions are loosely arranged under topics such as, Bringing 
Law to the People, Building Community and Civil Associations, Regenerating 
Civil Society, creating conditions for Democratic Development Despite the range 
of organisations represented, and the variations in their experience, the papers 
mostly reflect a common theme of conflict with the state and the problems involved 
in creating a sustainable role for voluntary civil associations. As such, they make 
interesting reading and add to the documentation on the growth of civil associations 
in Africa during the last ten years. They also clearly indicate a process of 
increasing politicisation as such associations attempt both to confront the state and 
develop a degree of independence from northern NGOs. As Halfani, in his 
conclusion to the book, notes, this represents a significant move away from the 
welfare and leisure oriented civil associations of the colonial and immediate postcolonial 
periods. He also argues that it reflects an attempt to recapture the civil 
space hitherto dominated by the colonial and post-colonial state. 
However, as Halfani recognises, nearly all of the 49 organisations represented 
at the Conference fell into two types. There were what he terms 'service agencies' 
set up by professionals (eg lawyers, academics) to expose the state, defend legal 
rights and empower 'the people' or weaker sections of society (eg women) by disseminating 
knowledge of rights. There were also organisations, again often set up 
by professionals, whose main aim is to enhance developmental activities within 
local communities. In this sense, the Conference did not represent the range of 
grassroots people's associations such as rotating credit associations, burial societies 
and artisan cooperatives which have existed in most African societies for 
decades and which are an important feature of civil society and a major means of 
ensuring community survival when government strategies or market solutions fail. 
Halfani argues that, without some wider form or articulation between civil 
associations, leading to their crystallisation into social movements, there is a 
danger of either ultimately unsuccessful conflict with the state or withdrawal from 
engagement in the political process and concentration on purely local or sectional 
interests. 
One of the problems with the book is that it falls uneasily between a more 
theoretical and general discussion of the nature of contemporary African politics, 
particularly the vexed problem of the nature or the state and civil society, and a 
documentary account of the raw experience of those involved in day-to-day
116 Book Reviews 
struggles. Many of the participants seem to have accepted the conventional view 
that a central characteristic of African societies is the absence or uneven development 
of civil society. However, what many of the contributions portray is not so 
much the growth of civil society in Africa, but rather the emergence and consolidation 
of a new professional middle class which is playing a central role in the 
polib'cisation of parts of an existing civil society. The ability of this social group 
to play such a role appears to depend on a particular historical conjuncture 
characterised by the uneven development of the market and the severe structural 
changes imposed on a fragile post-colonial state. Thus, the book raises, but does 
not answer, fundamental questions about the class nature of political and civil 
society in Africa and the extent to which the civil associations represented at the 
conference are likely to form the basis for more broadly based social movements. 
Reviewed by Ian Clegg, Lecturer, Centre for Development Studies, University of 
Swansea, Wales, UK. 
The People of the Great River: The Tonga Hoped the Water Would Follow 
Them, Michael Tremmel and the River Tonga People. Artwork by Loes Roos, 
Publisher Mambo Press in association with Silveira House (Price: approx Zim $ 10 
from Silveira House. Mambo Bookshops, and Grassroots Bookshops). 
*
This short, accessible, and honest book should be read by people interested in the 
Zambezi valley's social and natural history. It tells the tale, directly, and in the 
words of a selected group of elderly local people, of the consequences experienced 
by the River Tonga People since they were translocated to make way for the rising 
waters of Kariba dam. 
Fr. Michael Tremmel, a Catholic priest, has spent the last eight years in Binga 
District. He states his belief that the old missionary approach of bringing 'enlightenment' 
was wrong, and he sees himself as a "missioner", or someone who 
recognises that God has been, and is present, in the Tonga culture and tradition. 
The motive for the book emanates from the author's empathy with the forced 
sacrifice, made by the River Tonga, for the sake of a nation they did not identify 
with. In the history of landre-classificationofZimbabwe, the Tonga were not alone 
in paying the cost for the benefit of others. Nevertheless, the book testifies to the 
fact that a social and economic price was paid fora 'greater commonwealth'. Those 
who benefited most, with hindsight, are all users of hydro-electric power from 
Kariba, and the wildlife and fishery based industries of the region. 
The book is not a deep historical account, nor a academic book, more an 
authentic tribute to the local people. It recognises an event, occurring in the late 
1950s, which changed the environment they had co-existed with for centuries. 
What brings the book to life is that the author analyses several themes - life before 
the flooding, displacement, lifetoday.andfutureprospects-withagroupof Tonga 
men and women who have lived through the entire experience.
Book Reviews 117 
It provides many direct quotes which will remain as windows into the people's 
perception of their world. For example Kapu Muchimba, talking about ritual and 
family life, says: 
"We still perform our ancestral ceremonies this side of the lake even though 
we are separated from our relatives. We should be together with our 
relatives on the other side of the lake so we could do these ceremonies 
together with our ancestors". 
We are reminded that neither culture nor nature fits neatly into national boundaries, 
and that this is tiresome for many people. 
As someone who has related to rural development activities in the area since 
national independence, it is hard for me to accept that outcome of the development 
effort pales in comparison to the spiritual and material experience of resettlement. 
Being directly involved in the CAMPFIRE Programme, which aims to link wildlife 
to rural development, it is disappointing to read mainly negative personal impressions 
of wildlife from the Tonga contributors. Hopefully, this situation is still 
changing and younger people will, in their lifetimes, realise a greater share of the 
natural resource wealth in their region. 
Tears and tribulations may be the inheritance of the recent past, but salvation 
can surely only come through the local organisation of the Tonga themselves 
around the natural resource base in their district. The revenues presently captured 
by CAMPFIRE are only a part of the wildlife, aquatic, and tourist revenue resource 
flows. The Tonga need their own leaders, and they need to pull together, for in the 
words of a Tonga proverb quoted in the book, "the one who walks alone by the 
stream, gets eaten". 
Perhaps many adults will be too cynical to get much from this book, but I would 
urge parents to buy it for their children. We all have our own ideas about the Zambezi 
valley, especially the wildlife and fishing fraternity, why not learn how the 
potential stewards of the valley, the resident people, feel about it? While the 
author's recommendation that visitors should befriend a Tonga family may be 
going too far for most 'strangers in paradise', the point should be well taken. 
Michael Trammel's book comes from the heart and faithfully puts across the 
people's perspective. It is beautifully illustrated by Loes Roos, and has a fold-out 
map showing settlement, by chiefdom, before and after the valley floor was 
inundated by the Zambezi's waters. It is quite readable and I would especially 
recommend it to all secondary school children who should be informed of the 
nation's origin. 
Silveria House, which has supported the book, have made it the centerpiece of 
a number of activities aimed at promoting awareness of the life of the River Tonga, 
past and present. They will publish the book in Tonga as well as English, and they 
launched the book in Binga first. A set of cards taken from Ms Roos' illustrations 
is also being made available to the public. 
Review by Simon Metcalfe, Advisor to Zimbabwe Trust CAMPFIRE support 
project. Researchfellow with the Centre for Applied Social Sciences, University 
ofZimbabwe.