Archival Significance
Holderness was among the white liberal Rhodesians who, on return from WWII service, attempted to build genuine multiracial common ground with African political leadership before the Rhodesian Front’s rise. Terence Ranger’s cover endorsement frames the book as evidence that such a constituency existed and mattered.
Institutional Context
Published by ZPH five years after independence, giving Holderness the benefit of hindsight in framing the 1945-58 period as a genuine lost opportunity rather than simply personal memoir.
Content Summary
A first-person account of the attempt to build common political ground between Black and white Rhodesians in the years following WWII, ending with Garfield Todd’s fall from the premiership in 1958, the moment Holderness identifies as the closing of that window.
Research Utility
A primary source for the white-liberal strand of Rhodesian politics, useful alongside Todd-era political histories and as a counterpoint to accounts that treat settler politics as monolithically opposed to African political advancement.
Abantu Archives Note
Held in-house.