"In this most accomplished of books, Giacomo Macola has completely reworked the significance of Nkumbula's life and times. Macola successfully invests the study of nationalism with an historical complexity that until very recently had largely escaped its academic practitioners. This excellent book rescues Nkumbula from the condescension of posterity, even as it marks the coming of age of Central African ... Read morebiography." - Journal of African History "Well-researched biographies of post-colonial African political leaders are few and far between, so Giacomo Macola's excellent study of the life and politics of Harry Nkumbula, Zambian nationalist pioneer and opposition leader, is particularly welcome. This then is a book about the deconstruction of established narratives of nationalism, with relevance not just to Zambia but to the continent as a whole. Macola's distinctive polemic is one of the most important studies of African nationalism published in recent years." - Journal of Southern African Studies Show Less