In The Urban Roots of Democracy and Political Violence in Zimbabwe, Tim Scarnecchia charts the transformation of political mobilisation in Harare, Zimbabwe, in the crucial years between the 1948 general strike and the Rhodesian state's unilateral declaration of independence in 1964. For those interested in the internal dynamics of nationalist struggles, the book offers a fine-grained account of the shifting fortunes of political factions in the two most politically consequential African townships in Harare, Highfield and modern-day Mbare. The book's more substantial contribution, however, lies in the attention Scarnecchia devotes to the links between leaders and two crucial mass constituencies, women and workers.

The first portion of the book focuses on Charles Mzingeli, founder of Harare's Industrial and Commercial Workers Union. Placed alongside the elite-dominated and somewhat accommodationist African politics of the 1940s and 1950s, Mzingeli represents a new form of politics. He is uncompromising on equal rights and citizenship for all Africans, rejecting the notion that these should be linked to “proper” behaviour. Scarnecchia is most convincing on this point when he turns to Mzingeli's campaign to preserve the residence and work rights of the mapoto or temporary wives of African workers in Harare. Though viewed as disreputable by both Europeans and African elites, Mzingeli secured both residence rights and improved working conditions for these women. Mapoto wives subsequently served as an important base constituency for Mzingeli, and, at one point in the early 1950s, they composed the bulk of his union's membership.

The story becomes more complicated as Mzingeli's influence begins to wane. Beginning with the Harare Bus Boycott of 1956, Scarnecchia paints a vivid picture of the increasing disorder and violence associated with popular protest. For those familiar with modern Zimbabwean politics, there is much in Scarnecchia's account of urban politics that will seem familiar. Coerced participation, the rhetoric of ‘sell-out’ and betrayal, and state repression were all as central to political mobilisation in the Harare of the 1960s as they have been in Zimbabwe since 2000. Scarnecchia argues that these continuities are due to ideas of citizenship forged in the violent and anti-democratic politics of the 1960s. More problematically, he places the greatest causal weight on the party factionalism and elite manoeuvering undertaken by Charles Mzingeli and others. This reader is not convinced that elite politics – on which Scarnecchia focuses the bulk of his attention – was the major force at play during this period. Instead, what emerges from Scarnecchia's account is the enduring power of grassroots disruption and pressure from below. Though the book would have benefited from an expanded comparative lens, which would have allowed Scarnecchia to investigate very different dynamics in Bulawayo, this fine book sheds light on a crucial period in Zimbabwe's political history. It will serve as a valuable resource for both scholars of Zimbabwean politics and those interested in the politics of anti-colonial mobilisation more broadly.