Rhodesia: Last Outpost of the British Empire, 1890-1980. Peter Baxter

This is the first complete history of Rhodesia, the country founded by Empire Builder, Cecil John Rhodes. It tells how Rhodes' men engaged Lobengula, the Matabele king, in lengthy negotiations while at the same time seeking a Royal Charter and the right for white pioneers to occupy Mashonaland. It relates Rhodesia's history right up to Lancaster House in 1979 and the 'free and fair' elections that foisted the Marxist Robert Mugabe and his regime on the country. Throughout this historical tapestry the author has skillfully threaded in the many often larger-than-life personalities who shaped Rhodesia's destiny from Cecil John Rhodes, Leander Starr Jameson, Frank Johnson, King Lobengula, Archibald Colquhoan and many others, to the later ones like Godfrey Huggins, Sir Edgar Whitehead, Garfield Todd, Joshua Nkomo, Robert Mugabe Ian Smith and a host of others.