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Allen F. Isaacman and Barbara S. Isaacman. 2020. Mozambique's Samora Machel: A Life Cut Short. Athens: Ohio University Press. 257 pp.
The book-a concise biographical account of the Mozambican revolutionary leader Samora Machel-has a special taste due to the entanglement of both authors with the recent history of Mozambique. Since the 1960s, Allan and Barbara Isaacman have been interacting with the country, building relations in multiple ways, sometimes for short periods on research trips or as habitual residents in their time as university professors. During this period of war, revolution, and liberation they held firm to their commitment to social justice and the struggle for freedom in Southern Africa. At first, it might sound like something that could be problematic, as in the classic formula: researchers must keep a certain distance from their object of study. But the Isaacmans handle it with mastery. Their relation to the country and its people is seen and felt throughout the book in the vivid ways they depict everyday life in Mozambique and the richness of details concerning Samora Machel's trajectory.
The book's prologue discusses and reflects upon the matters already addressed here, the authors' relations to the story they present, and the challenge of representing such a complex and ambiguous figure as Samora Machel. Of course, this is a common problem in...