White Man's Country: Lord Delamere and the Making of Kenya

by Elspeth Huxley

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

Genres: Africa, History, Nonfiction, Kenya

334 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1935

About the author

Elspeth Joscelin Huxley was an English writer, journalist, broadcaster, magistrate, environmentalist, farmer, and government adviser. She wrote over 40 books, including her best-known lyrical books, The Flame Trees of Thika and The Mottled Lizard, based on her youth in a coffee farm in British Kenya. Her husband, Gervas Huxley, was a grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley and a cousin of Aldous Huxley.

Reviews

[Trevor · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the most beautifully written books (two books, actually) I have read on colonial Kenya, marred by the racism and colonial conceits characteristic of the age (c. 1935). This is really a settler's history of Kenya masquerading as a biography of Lord Delamere, the leading settler. Highly recommended, but know that you are reading a relic of colonial thought.

[Sjors · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting read about the colonial history of Kenya and surrounding countries. To be read with the date of writing (1935) and the colonial mindset in mind. Key insights for me sprang from the chapters describing in considerable detail the great difficulties of successfully replicating European farming practices and plant / animal species in the rich native soil (diseases, pests, and drought/flood) and from the evidence of great albeit very paternalistic concern regarding the rights and treatment of the natives by the settlers. By keeping the narrative focus on Lord Delamere, Kenya’s most active settler, the author keeps the facts of history lively through the well over 600 pages of the books. Funny anecdotes pop up here and there to give us some insight in the more light side of life at the time. Overall, a satisfying read.

[Lorilei Beer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Huxley shows her keen abilities as an historian and writer in the detail, imagery, stories and sounds of this period in Kenya. Written in 1935, it reflects both the cultural context, attitudes and behaviors toward race and colonialism of the 30s as well as the period about which she is writing -- 1870-1914. Lord Delamere loves the Masai, learns their language and advocates for them. At the same time, he shares the pervasive prejudices about the savagery, primitiveness, and simplicity of black Africans. There is a strong and very disturbing parallel between colonial beliefs and actions ("developing, educating, helping, etc") the blacks and the current development industry.