Percy Zvomuya spent a decade researching and writing this definitive biography of Robert Gabriel Mugabe (1924-2019). Allowing the dust to settle after Mugabe's decades of misrule, Zvomuya goes far beyond the easy stereotype of 'African nationalist who went from liberator to dictator', creating a complex portrait of a man who was always the outsider as a young man, a leader of a revolutionary movement and as president of his country. The curious figure of the black Victorian emerges as Mugabe's fascinating contradictions are exposed. The author is highly critical of Mugabe and how he oversaw the devastating decline of Zimbabwe, but the reader will come away with a far richer understanding of the country and its people. Zvomuya has created a beautifully written and intimate portrait which is suffused with a deep cultural understanding of Mugabe and his times.