When a State Turns on Its Citizens: 60 Years of Institutionalised Violence in Zimbabwe

Sachikonye traces Zimbabwe's culture of state violence back to Rhodesian colonial-era forces and the liberation war, but focuses mainly on the post-2000 period, when election-related and land-reform violence was directed by the state against its own citizens. He argues that impunity for perpetrators has created a "chilling effect" that has strangled personal freedoms, and that fear of authoritarian violence — not just economic hardship — has driven millions of Zimbabweans into exile. The book concludes that reconciliation requires confronting this history honestly.