The Dust Diaries: Seeking the African Legacy of Arthur Cripps

This is one of those serendipitous purchases I happened to find in a used book store in Bedfordview, South Africa, in 2007. Sheers writes the biography of his uncle Arthur Cripps, who was an early colonial missionary to the Shona people of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. He recounts the struggles the missionary had with the colonial authorities as they stole land and abused the local people. Cripps worked as an advocate for the people, lived with them out in a rural area of the land, and treated them as equals, while the colonials treated them as children and people with no rights. He interceded for them with the colonial government. Sheers brings the situation up to date by including perspectives from the current situation in Zimbabwe from his trips there for research. He writes in a travelogue format, so we move along with him in what he is experiencing, linked to what he is discovering about the Rhodesian past and the Zimbabwean present. Sheers was working on the research for his book in Zimbabwe during the Mugabe land invasions. He recounts details of the events and news of that horrendous period, whose results are now still being played out in greater and greater misery. He recounts an inadvertent frightening meeting with "Hitler" Hunzi (Hunzi's own designation), who orchestrated the invasion, intimidation and murder of blacks and whites, erased active opposition and acted as a general hatchet man for the Zimbabwean dictator. This volume is readable on three levels: as a personal diary of the genealogical search, as a biography of missionary Cripps in the colonial history of Rhodesia-Zimbabwe and as a perspective on the present destruction of a nation, its people and its prosperous economy by a ruthless selfish dictator and his reign of terror.

Sheers writes the biography of his uncle Arthur Cripps, who was an early colonial missionary to the Shona people of Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe. He recounts the struggles the missionary had with the colonial authorities as they stole land and abused the local people. Cripps worked as an advocate for the people, lived with them out in a rural area of the land, and treated them as equals, while the colonials treated them as children and people with no rights. Sheers brings the situation up to date by including perspectives from the current situation in Zimbabwe from his trips there for research. He writes in a travelogue format, so we move along with him in what he is experiencing linked to what he is discovering about the Rhodesian past and the Zimbabwean present. He was there during the Mugabe land invasions and recounts details of the events and news of that horrendous period, whose results are now still being played out in greater and greater misery. He recounts an inadvertent meeting with "Hitler" Hunzi [Hunzi's own designation], who orchestrated the invasion, intimidation and murder of blacks and whites, erased active opposition and acted as a general hatchet man for the dictator.

My daughter went to a lecture at the Smithsonian by Owen Sheers and gave me an autographed copy of the book. The reason she thought I would like to read it is that Mr. Sheers is Welsh and I am involved in Welsh activities. I found the book a little difficult to get a hold of at first; but then again I found the same true of Cold Mountain. But once I got into the book, the telling of the tale, the unravelling of a lost human story, became more and more engrossing. Mr. Sheers is not just looking for the facts, but looking for the person of his long lost uncle. Some of the tale is obviously embellished in order to flesh out the life of Arthur Cripps, but it is not license out of hand. I must say I enjoyed the book which is told only as a poet can tell it.

At a family reunion poet Owen Sheers heard the story of obscure relative Arthur Cripps, who turned from poetry to missionary work in Africa and became a powerful local figure. Cripps' passion for preserving indigenous ways ostracized him from his peers and led to a revolt against colonial injustice, exiling Cripps from the Anglican Church. Sheers' investigation of his relative led him from Oxford to Zimbabwe in an effort to re-trace Arthur Cripps' life and experiences.

As an avid reader of history and historical novels I found this book both extremely enjoyable to read and insightful on a topic I knew little about. Owen Sheers' poetic and descriptive style draws the reader into this fascinating story about his great uncle. His personal quest to understand this missionary's life adds an autobiographical element which brings the reader closer to the story. Mr. Sheer achieves a fine balance in combining historical fact with the novel elements of the story. As a result, the reader comes to appreciate how special Arthur Cripps was as a person and what drove him to become a unique and sympathetic missionary.I highly recommend this book.