This autobiography is the story of Peter Godwin, who grew up in Rhodesia in the 1960s, aware, but only dimly, of the divisions that would lead to civil war. His childhood was spent among African children who could never be his friends, and white adults who were beginning to perceive the anachronism that their late colonial lifestyle represented. Guerilla killings began, and Peter began to get used to violent death. Conscripted into the army at 17, he was commanding units of 100 Africans fighting guerillas in the bush. After a period studying law in England he returned to Zimbabwe and began to report for the Sunday Times on the tribal atrocities being inflicted in Matabeleland. He discovered an horrific campaign of malignity being visited by African upon African in the name of political rectitude and patriotism.