Discussions of the country’s geography, society, economy, and history are available in Harold D. Nelson, Zimbabwe, a Country Study, 2nd ed. (1983). Political economy is addressed by J.D.Y. Peel and T.O. Ranger (eds.), Past and Present in Zimbabwe (1983); Ibbo Mandaza (ed.), Zimbabwe: The Political Economy of Transition, 1980–1986 (1986); Ian Phimister, An Economic and Social History of Zimbabwe, 1890–1948: Capital Accumulation and Class Struggle (1987); and Christine Sylvester, Zimbabwe: The Terrain of Contradictory Development (1991).
Robert Blake, A History of Rhodesia (1977), includes a commentary sympathetic to the white Rhodesian leaders. The early history of the country is detailed in D.N. Beach, The Shona & Zimbabwe, 900–1850: An Outline of Shona History (1980); S.I.G. Mudenge, A Political History of Munhumutapa, c. 1400–1902 (1988); Philip Mason, The Birth of a Dilemma: The Conquest and Settlement of Rhodesia (1958, reprinted 1982), the best account of the early days (up to 1918) of white settlement and race relations; T.O. Ranger, Revolt in Southern Rhodesia, 1896–97 (1967, reissued 1979), a full-length study, drawing from African sources, of the risings against white rule in 1896–97, with significance in terms of the modern liberation movement; Robin Palmer, Land and Racial Domination in Rhodesia (1977); Anthony Verrier, The Road to Zimbabwe, 1890–1980 (1986); T.O. Ranger, The African Voice in Southern Rhodesia, 1898–1930 (1970); and Charles Van Onselen, Chibaro: African Mine Labour in Southern Rhodesia, 1900–1933 (1976), a major pioneering study in social history. Lawrence Vambe, An Ill-Fated People: Zimbabwe Before and After Rhodes (1972), a family history portraying the humour and sadness of occupation, is continued by his From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe (1976), on the years from 1927 to the early 1960s. More recent history is studied by Nathan M. Shamuyarira, Crisis in Rhodesia (1965), a broad description of the racial disparities and political collisions that culminated in the Unilateral Declaration of Independence; Richard Hall, The High Price of Principles: Kaunda and the White South (1969); Martin Meredith, The Past Is Another Country: Rhodesia, UDI to Zimbabwe, rev. and extended ed. (1980), a detailed and objective account of political moves inside Rhodesia from 1965 to 1979; T.O. Ranger, Peasant Consciousness and Guerrilla War in Zimbabwe: A Comparative Study (1985); Norma J. Kriger, Zimbabwe’s Guerrilla War: Peasant Voices (1992); David Martin and Phyllis Johnson, The Struggle for Zimbabwe: The Chimurenga War (1981), an authoritative account of the liberation movement; and W.H. Morris-Jones (ed.), From Rhodesia to Zimbabwe: Behind and Beyond Lancaster House (1980).