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Article: Mugabe drags Zimbabwe to the abyss.(Travel-Books)
- Article from:
- Albany Times Union (Albany, NY)
- Article date:
- July 6, 2008
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Albany Times Union. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: KARL MAIER
Robert Mugabe began life as a shy, bookish boy whose deeply Catholic mother said he was bound for greatness after his two older brothers died and his father, a carpenter, abandoned the family.
Armed with steely self-discipline, Mugabe excelled at St. Francis Xavier College, the top high school for blacks in what was then Rhodesia. He also honed a vindictive streak against fellow students who called him a mummy's boy, promising that one day he would get even.
Yet he could be magnanimous, as Heidi Holland shows in her astute book, "Dinner With Mugabe" (Penguin; 280 pages; $30) . Once in power, he allowed former Rhodesian Prime ...