Portugal's Guerrilla Wars in Africa: Lisbon's Three Wars in Angola, Mozambique and Portuguese Guinea, 1961-74, Al J. Venter
Al Venter is a veteran South African journalist and war correspondent, who traveled widely in all three war zones profiled here. The book is at its best when it draws on his notes and reporting done over a period of years. The result is some utterly fascinating anecdotes and vivid “no [kidding], there I was…” moments sprinkled through the book. Venter's descriptions of convoying across endless expanses of hostile country, for instance, are gripping. He clearly was able to build good rapport with several of his hosts, and evidently respected many of the soldiers he met.
This does not mean Venter romanticized or was blind to local sources of resentment against the metropole. As he notes at one point, "One can go further and say that with the level of colonial exploitation going on in Lisbon’s colonies– and in this regard the Portuguese were ruthless – there would almost certainly have been some kind of an uprising, as there had been many before, but always ruthlessly dealt with." The other side, though, are portrayed as carrying out their wars just as brutally in practice, however elevated their goals were in principle.
And therein is one of the book's limitations. Portugal’s Guerilla Wars as the title implies, is about Portugal’s side of the wars. Venter is pretty effective showing how they fought and, to some extent, why. Whether from lack of access or lack of interest, the guerilla perspective gets short shrift--to the extent it is presented, it tends to be one-dimensional and very Cold War in outlook. What the guerillas' goals and perspectives actually were isn't particularly clear.
The book's other major flaw is organizational. Events in Lisbon and the “Carnation Revolution” are touched on briefly, but the book is strongest presenting bottom-up reporting from the warzones. As a result, the narrative tends to jump around and is choppy.
Still, there’s not very much available in English on this lusophone parallel to Vietnam, and Venter does a decent job with what he has. This is valuable look at the story of how three African countries, troubled in different ways, came to be what they are.
Nonfiction: 6/10 (3 stars)