Cotton is the Mother of Poverty

Rezensionen / Stimmen

His achievement is not merely mastery of a huge and difficult body of sources, much of it diligently collected oral material. His lifetime of scholarship, committed to a better understanding of Mozambique's twentieth-century history, gives an unusual depth to the study and an unusual confidence to the scholar. ... exceptionally fine book, Allen Isaacman shows that such large-scale human tragedies were not just the horrors of the deep past but are, rather, uncomfortably recent. Many of his sources, somewhat surprisingly in view of his grim story, are still alive. ... Professor Isaacman's achievement is very considerable. It is a great contribution to our understanding of colonialism and the transformations of rural life. -- Richard Rathbone * LABOUR HISTORY REVIEW * ... Cotton is the Mother of Poverty has revealed the multifaceted experiences and responses producers had and the meanings they attached to them. These voices have been silenced for too long. It is hoped that more studies will incorporate into their analyses the words of those who have suffered, coped, survived and resisted. -- M. Anne Pitcher * JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN AFRICAN STUDIES * Isaacman's book builds on a number of studies which he has already published on the social history of cotton and is a mature and measured analysis which is far from being a crude anti-colonial polemic...This excellent book is deeply rooted in a lifetime's study of Mozambique. It is a work I would highly recommend to anyone wanting not only to learn about the realities of colonial rule but to hear the voice of the people who experienced it...highly readable and essential for any library of African affairs. -- Malyn Newitt * JOURNAL OF AFRICAN HISTORY *