This book transforms our understanding of the recent political history of Central Africa. It charts the complex life and thought of Harry Nkumbula (ca. 1917–1983), the first openly nationalist African politician in Northern Rhodesia and, later, the leader of parliamentary opposition during Zambia’s multi-party First Republic. Based mainly on his personal papers and the newly opened archives of UNIP, Zambia’s ruling party between 1964 and 1991, the volume looks at how Nkumbula imagined a Zambian nation for the first time and, later, presented a liberal alternative to dominant state-led models of political and economic development. By exploring the trajectory of Nkumbula’s ANC, a minority liberal party with strong ethnic roots, the book throws new light on the under-acknowledged fractiousness of Zambian nationalism and warns against reading African post-colonial politics solely in terms of clientelism.

Introduction: Historical Biography and Rival African Nationalisms * Imagining the Nation: Methodism, History and Politics in Nkumbula’s Early Years * ‘The Father of Zambian Politics’ between Padmore and Maala * The Explosion of Contradictions * Nkumbula, UNIP and the Roots of Authoritarianism in Nationalist Zambia * Resisting UNIP: Liberal Democracy and Ethnic Politics in Zambia’s First Republic * ‘The Last Battle I Will Ever Fight’: Nkumbula and the Drive towards the One-Party State * Epilogue: Nkumbula’s Last Initiatives and Legacy