Robert Mugabe came to power after a long civil war in Rhodesia, becoming president of the country now called Zimbabwe. Initially praised for leading Zimbabwe's social and economic development, it was discovered that the honeymoon was not to last long. Determined to gain total power through a one-party system, Mugabe unleased a campaign of mass murder and terror against his political opponents in Matabeleland. Year by year, he acquired huge personal power, ruling the country through a vast system of patronage, favouring loyal aides and cronies with government positions and contracts and ignoring the spreading blight of corruption. One by one, state corporations and funding organizations were plundered. Today Zimbabwe is a country beset by violence and lawlessness, regarded by the international community as a pariah state. Its economy is in tatters. Determined to stay in power, Mugabe has used armed gangs to crush political opposition, subverted the rule of law, undermined the judiciary, harassed the independent press and vilified the small white community. What happened in Zimbabwe? What turned an idealistic political visionary into a brutal aristocrat? Martin Meredith here attempts to understand the increasingly autocratic and corrupt policies pursued by Mugabe.