Warriors and strangers

by Gerald Hanley

320 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1971

Reviews

[John Benson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gerald Hanley went out as a young man to Kenya to work and then during World War II served in Somalia. Later, he returned to visit both places soon after independence for Somalia and just before Kenya achieved it. The first half of the book explores his years during the War with Somali warriors and touches on a short visit to Mogadishu. It feels like a complete book. This Somali portion was all very new to me and he brings out different individuals he meets there well. I grew up in Tanzania and my father worked with the Maasai so this portion I could relate to more. Many of the chapters were about his dealings with different Maasai elders. In this part, he concentrates on his visit in the early 1960s and less on his earlier time in the country. The book captures personalities in both countries well.

[Abby Howell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book after is was referenced in Michael Scott Moore's book The Desert and the Sea: 977 Days Captive on the Somali Pirate Coast. Originally published in 1971, Hanley returns to Kenya, where he had been a farmer in the early 1940's, and Somali, where he was a British officer in WWII. The book is both commentary of the present day and a reminiscence of his earlier life there. Despite some language that does not age well when he speaks of the people of Kenya and Somalia, I found the book throughly engaging, with beautiful descriptions of both Kenya and Somalia, and thoughtful in its criticism of British colonialism. In many ways, it feels that Hanley was ahead of his time.