As Araújo writes in this illuminating study of late colonial Mozambique, 'history is the craft of the possible' (p. 9). Readers learn how the Salazar and successor Caetano regimes securitized Islam and Sunni Muslims in northern Mozambique from 1964 to 1974, concerned that Indian and African Muslims might support FRELIMO, the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique, whose members were mostly Africans. Araújo acknowledges that her narrative is shaped by FRELIMO's silence and the gaps in the archival records about Salazar, Caetano, and the various Portuguese security forces active in the north. What she finds is nevertheless remarkable... Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty.

Choice

As Sandra Araújo shows in her fascinating new study, the unhappy conscript armies of Portugal's Overseas Wars were not solely agents of the 'butcher and bolt' violence of legend. Making common cause with Mozambique's Muslims against godless communism, perfecting intelligence operations, and investing in civilian infrastructure, the Portuguese dictatorship kept the empire a going concern right up until disgruntled officers toppled the Lisbon regime on 25 April 1974.

Mark Lawrence, Senior Lecturer in Military History, University of Kent, UK

This monograph on Portugal's intelligence gathering on Muslims in colonial Mozambique demonstrates how lack of resources, absence of strategic planning, intense inter-agency skullduggery, bureaucratic incompetence, and simplistic view of Muslims undermined Lisbon's best efforts to recruit members of this community as surrogates of the colonial war. The book is elegantly written, well crafted, easy to read, methodologically sound, and well-structured; it is an invaluable addition to the body of literature in this field of inquiry.

Mustafah Dhada, Professor of History, California State University, USA