Dinner with Mugabe

I finally finished the book on Mugabe I was reading. Dinner with Mugabe, by journo Heidi Holland (who jokes her next book will be Out to Lunch with Ahmadinejad). It's a fascinating insight in the transition from freedom fighter to tiran. It doesn't make excuses for what he has become but it tries to understand and explain. At the end of the book, the writer finally manages to interview Mugabe himself. She asks him how he would like to be remembered. His response?
"Just as the son of a peasant family who, alongside others, felt he had a responsibility to fight for his country. And did so to the best of his ability. And was grateful for the honour given him to lead a country and be remembered as one who was most grateful for the honour that the people gave him in leading them to victoria over British emperialism. Yes, for that I want to be remembered."

The man is a total and utter nutcase. But it makes for fascinating reading about the country I so loved when I visited it in 1997.