There's everything here. Although centred on the war, Thrush brings its effects on mothers and fathers, wives, lovers, the economy and the whole social fabric of a country in turmoil into fine focus. The escalation of political pressure on the Rhodesia Government from the US and Britain, mainly through South Africa , as events move towards the climax is accurately, if economically, drawn. The mounting uncertainty of the civilian population denied full knowledge of events in the operational areas and in Zambia and Mozambique, comes through clearly and sympathetically. Lonely wives drift into pointless affairs, and parents constantly agonise about staying or emigrating.
Business winds down, farmers retreat behind electrified fences and sandbagged windows and doorways.
And still the pressure on an under-strength army mounts. Thrush writes incisively of the military operations, but he avoids the trap of dwelling too much on the atrocities of both sides. That has been amply covered elsewhere. The real miracle must be that South Africa avoided that fate. Rhodesia had gone forever.