This book is a historical study of how Christian protest influenced the sociopolitical transformation of Zimbabwe. The book studies the roles played by individual Christians, churches and Christian organisations from colonisation to the first 20 years of Zimbabwe's independence. The author draws on material from national and church archives together with qualitative data from interviews with key players during the study period to knit together a historical account of Christian contribution to sociopolitical transformation in Zimbabwe. He concludes that Christianity played a key role in the history of Zimbabwe over the century that the book studies.

The book is divided into eight chapters with each chapter addressing a specific period. Accompanying the historical narratives are pictorial illustrations that include San rock paintings, pictures of Great Zimbabwe and a portrait of King Lobengula. The book also includes a list of abbreviations, a glossary of commonly used Shona and Ndebele terms as well as a comprehensive bibliography quite useful for readers who want to read further on this subject. The book is written in a style that makes it accessible not only to trained historians and theologians but to a general audience.

The book's introduction spells out the study's background, the book's purpose, the sources consulted and the methodology employed. Chapter 2 makes a journey addressing the population of Zimbabwe from the San occupation of the country, to the coming of the Shona, the Ndebele and finally European settlers towards the end of the 19th century. The chapter describes the socio-political organisation of the Shona and the Ndebele, demonstrating how the colonialists’ arrival destabilised the traditional set-up. Chapter 2 also argues that right from the arrival of the Church, it played a role, either negative or positive, in the lives of the people. Chapter 3 examines the development of radical African politics in the early 1960s, when the colonial government introduced a number of racist policies. The chapter discusses the rise of African clergy and liberal white clergy who opposed racist government policies. It underlines the role of Christianity in training African nationalists and clergy who would become the torch bearers of African liberation.

Chapter 4 details the growing nationalist frustrations with the colonial government, the place of traditional religion and the different attitudes of different churches to the African call against racism. There is also a discussion of the Zimbabwean Church protest following the declaration of independence and the introduction of repressive acts like the Land Tenure Act by the Smith regime in 1965. Chapter 5 then shows that the Christian Church began re-thinking its role, with different churches arriving at different positions. Chapter 6 discusses how the different churches, especially Protestant churches came to realise the need to combat racism. Chapter 7 examines the key role of the Roman Catholic Church in working with ZANU PF to bring about independence in 1980. Chapter 8 ends the book with an analysis of the Church's role in the post-colonial period.

Overall, this is a very important addition to the many books on the Church's role in Zimbabwe's liberation. This particular book's major contribution is its debate on whether it was the Bible, the bullet or the ballot that brought about socio-political transformation in colonial Zimbabwe. The subject has not been debated in detail as done by Fabulous Moyo in this book. Although this book is written from a historical perspective, it provides deep insights on the ambivalent role of Christianity for social-political transformation even in contemporary Zimbabwe. When reading it, one cannot fail to derive parallels to the place of the Church even in contemporary socio-political dynamics of the country. This book is thus not only for historians and theologians but also for civic organisations that work with the church to promote socio-political transformation.