-
Your next favorite book
is waiting.
Coming of Age at the End of Empire
by Simukai Chigudu
An exquisitely crafted memoir, sweeping from Zimbabwe to Oxford, that lays bare the violent, enduring legacy of colonialism on both a country and a family.
Simukai Chigudu grew up in the shadow of Africa's struggles for liberation. As he navigates the tangled threads of personal and political history, he is guided by one central question: What does it mean to be truly free?
Chigudu's father fought in a guerilla war against the white supremacist regime of Rhodesia. He met Chigudu's mother while in exile in Uganda. After spending seven years apart, they reunite to build a life in newly independent Zimbabwe, hoping to offer their son the opportunities they never had. Yet Chigudu grows up in a world where colonialism never fully ended.
Racism persists: in the elite, white-run prep schools that groom him for life outside of Africa; in the British university where he is the only Black man in his class of 250; and finally as an Oxford professor, where a statue of the man who colonized his homeland—Cecil Rhodes—stands proudly on campus. As Zimbabwe convulses in the aftershocks of empire, facing political turmoil and economic collapse, Chigudu sees a parallel unravelling in his own family. His father, scarred by war, has turned to alcohol; his mother has grown distant and sorrowful.
In this gorgeous and atmospheric family memoir, Chigudu embarks on a quest to understand how the trauma of decolonization has shaped not only his country, but his very identity—as an African, a migrant, a Black man, a doctor, a scholar, and a son. What he discovers is that colonization is a potent force that continues to upend lives and institutions. Chasing Freedom is an intimate reckoning with the ghosts of the past that haunt our politics and our psyches in ways we can't always see.
"A well-crafted blend of personal and political history." —Kirkus Reviews
"A powerful memoir of postcolonial unease ... [and] an elegant exploration of how political liberation does not always bring freedom for oneself... . [Chasing Freedom] asks what it means to stand up to the past without being trapped by it, and whether a different kind of freedom might still be possible." —The Guardian
"In Chasing Freedom, Simukai Chigudu seamlessly blends the history of African colonization and the jagged paths to independence with the story of his remarkable family. But this book is so much more. It is also the story of those for whom these massive global transformations were mere backdrops for growing up across continents, cultures, and agendas—of those children of African liberation now empowered to remake the world that colonialism made."—Louis Chude-Sokei, author of Floating in a Most Peculiar Way
"A fascinating memoir, both intimate and epic, which will teach you more about the legacies of colonialism than a hundred op-eds, or a dozen textbooks." —Sathnam Sanghera, author of Empireland
This information about Chasing Freedom was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Simukai Chigudu is associate professor of African politics at the University of Oxford and fellow of St. Antony's College. He was previously a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University. He is one of the founding members of Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford, a campaign to remove the statue of Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College—and decolonize the university.
If you liked Chasing Freedom, try these:
by Afabwaje Kurian
Published 2025
Set against the backdrop of 1970s Nigeria teetering between post-colonial dependency and self-rule, Before the Mango Ripens examines the enduring themes of faith, disillusionment, and the search for belonging. Both epic and intimate, Afabwaje Kurian's debut announces a brilliant new talent for readers of Imbolo Mbue and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
by Uche Okonkwo
Published 2024
A searing, unflinching collection of stories set in Nigeria that explores themes of community expectations, familial strife, and the struggle for survival.
by Dipo Faloyin
Published 2023
An exuberant, opinionated, stereotype-busting portrait of contemporary Africa in all its splendid diversity, by one of its leading new writers.
They say that in the end truth will triumph, but it's a lie.
Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!
Can you name the title?
Test your book knowledge with our daily trivia challenge!
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
