My late wife was a stock broker and her District manager was a gentleman from Northern Rhodesia now called Zambia. His father and Wilber Smiths father formed the first flying club in what is now Gweru, Zimbabwe. His father and Smiths father then moved to Northern Zambia to work in the mining industry there. My friend studied in Capetown and got a scholorship to an American University and stayed in the U.S. He is now living back in Africa in the Capetown area. We have had long conversations about the time of His and Wilber Smiths childhood and upbringing as he knew I liked Smiths books and asked him many times about their accuracy. Wilber Smith certainly has more first hand knowledge of the times and conditions both past and present than I do and I read his books for the pleasure they bring in his very descriptive and knowledgable views on Africa and don't choose to take them for anything more. As I look at the bookcase as I write this I see 3 volumnes,A Time To Die,Hungry As the Sea, and The Angels Weep that I have moved to the front to re-read. This post reminds me to do just that. I shall as always read them with pleasure ,for pleasure.