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Caroline ElkinsSynopsis of Book from goodreads:
Harvard historian Caroline Elkins has recovered the lost history of the last days of British colonialism in Kenya. In a narrative that draws upon nearly a decade of research - including hundreds of interviews with Kikuyu detention camp survivors and their captors - Elkins reveals for the first time what Britain so desperately tried to hide. In the aftermath of World War II and the triumph of liberal democracy over fascism, the British detained nearly the entire Kikuyu population - some one and a half million people - for more than eight years. Inside detention camps and barbed-wire villages, the Kikuyu lived in a world of fear, hunger, and death. Their only hope for survival was a full denunciation of their anti-British beliefs
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by Jomo KenyattaSynopsis of book from goodreads:
'Facing Mount Kenya' is a central document of the highest distinction in anthropological literature, an invaluable key to the structure of African society and the nature of the African mind. 'Facing Mount Kenya' is not only a formal study of life and death, work and play, sex and the family in one of the greatest tribes of contemporary Africa, but a work of considerable literary merit. The very sight and sound of Kikuyu tribal life presented here are at once comprehensive and intimate, and as precise as they are compassionate.
Here is another book covering aspects of the British Empire in Kenya; "Histories of the Hanged: The Dirty War in Kenya and the End of Empire" by David Anderson.
by David AndersonPublishers blurb:
This book tells for the first time the story of the dirty war the British fought in Kenya, in the run-up to the country's independence in 1964. In 1952, after years of tension and bitterness, the grievances of the Gikuyu people of central Kenya exploded into open rebellion. Only 32 European settlers died in the subsequent fighting, but more than 1,800 African civilians, over 3,000 African police and soldiers, and 12,000 Mau Mau rebels were killed. Between 1953 and 1956 Britain sent over a thousand Kenyans to the gallows, often on trumped up or non-existent charges. Meanwhile 70,000 people were imprisoned in camps without trial for between two and six years. David Anderson provides a full and convincing account of a war in which all sides behaved badly, and therefore few of the combatants can be either fully excused, or blamed. These events are still within living memory, and eye-witness testimonies provide the backbone of this controversial story.
Reviews:
"David Anderson's Histories of the Hanged is the first full account of the guerrilla war that determined who should inherit Britain's most troublesome African colony. His evidence comes principally from the transcripts of the hundreds of Mau Mau trials that, in four years, resulted in more that one thousand executions, far more than in any other colonial conflict, even Algeria's." - The Times
"The British responded with show trials and swift executions to demonstrate that counter-measures were in place. These trials form the centrepiece of Anderson's book. He has trawled through more than 1,000 of them in Kenya National Archive, emerging with a tale of rough justice and political manipulation that raises disturbing questions about the guilt of some of the accused." - The Telegraph
"Anderson's research on Mau Mau trials and their victims...not only transform[s] our understanding of empire's end, but should produce political shock-waves...What Britain did in Kenya was - as...Anderson...make[s] clear in unprecedented and shocking detail - vicious, shameful and unforgivable." - The Independent
Just as a point of interest my wife lived in Kenya for three years between 1970 to 1973 and lived in Nairobi. Her dad use to take her out camping in the nature reserves, sleeping under the stars in tents!
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She had a great time although I'm not too sure about the idea of sleeping in a canvas tent in a nature reserve!
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Hey Bentley, thanks for setting up a discussion area for my second favorite country (US obviously has to get props here). The books you've posted are excellent. I would also highly recommend this one which covers all of the East African region while main focus is Kenya. The Lunatic Express: An Entertainment in Imperialism.Charles Miller
Came across this today, looks interesting:
by Wangari MaathaiMaathai, a 2004 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, presents a matter-of-fact account of her rather exceptional life in Kenya. Born in 1940, Matthai attended primary school at a time when Kenyan girls were not educated; went on to earn a Ph.D. and became head of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy at the University of Nairobi before founding Kenya's Green Belt Movement in 1977, which mobilized thousands of women to plant trees in an effort to restore the country's indigenous forests. Because Kenya's environmental degradation was largely due to the policies of a corrupt government, she then made the Green Belt Movement part of a broader campaign for democracy. Maathai endured personal attacks by the ruling powers-President Moi denounced her as a "wayward" woman-and engaged in political activities that landed her in jail several times. When a new government came into power in 2002, she was elected to Parliament and appointed assistant minister in the Ministry for Environment and Natural Resources. Despite workmanlike prose, this memoir (after The Green Belt Movement) documents the remarkable achievements of an influential environmentalist and activist.
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Glad you liked it Andrea; just saw your note. And Alisa, that looks like an interesting book.
As Britain was losing its African empire, they were faced with rebels full of nationalistic zeal. This book uncovers the brutal treatment of these rebels which is laid at the feet of the British overseers.Histories of the Hanged
by David AndersonSynopsis
In "a gripping narrative that is all but impossible to put down" (Joseph C. Miller), "Histories of the Hanged" exposes the long-hidden colonial crimes of the British in Kenya. This groundbreaking work tells how the brutal war between the colonial government and the insurrectionist Mau Mau between 1952 and 1960 dominated the final bloody decade of imperialism in East Africa. Using extraordinary new evidence, David Anderson puts the colonial government on trial with eyewitness testimony from over 800 court cases and previously unseen archives. His research exonerates the Kikuyu rebels; hardly the terrorists they were thought to be; and reveals the British to be brutal aggressors in a "dirty war" that involved leaders at the highest ranks of the British government. This astonishing piece of scholarship portrays a teetering colonial empire in its final phase; employing whatever military and propaganda methods it could to preserve an order that could no longer hold.
An insiders look at the corruption that erupted when Kenya gained independence.Kenya: Between Hope and Despair
by Daniel Branch(no photo)Synopsis;
On December 12, 1963, people across Kenya joyfully celebrated independence from British colonial rule, anticipating a bright future of prosperity and social justice. As the nation approaches the fiftieth anniversary of its independence, however, the people's dream remains elusive. During its first five decades Kenya has experienced assassinations, riots, coup attempts, ethnic violence, and political corruption. The ranks of the disaffected, the unemployed, and the poor have multiplied. In this authoritative and insightful account of Kenya's history from 1963 to the present day, Daniel Branch sheds new light on the nation's struggles and the complicated causes behind them.
Branch describes how Kenya constructed itself as a state and how ethnicity has proved a powerful force in national politics from the start, as have disorder and violence. He explores such divisive political issues as the needs of the landless poor, international relations with Britain and with the Cold War superpowers, and the direction of economic development. Tracing an escalation of government corruption over time, the author brings his discussion to the present, paying particular attention to the rigged election of 2007, the subsequent compromise government, and Kenya's prospects as a still-evolving independent stat
I liked this book:Dreams in a Time of War: A Childhood Memoir|6716861]
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Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’oSynopsis:
By the world-renowned novelist, playwright, critic, and author of Wizard of the Crow, an evocative and affecting memoir of childhood.
Ngugi wa Thiong’o was born in 1938 in rural Kenya to a father whose four wives bore him more than a score of children. The man who would become one of Africa’s leading writers was the fifth child of the third wife. Even as World War II affected the lives of Africans under British colonial rule in particularly unexpected ways, Ngugi spent his childhood as very much the apple of his mother’s eye before attending school to slake what was then considered a bizarre thirst for learning.
In Dreams in a Time of War, Ngugi deftly etches a bygone era, capturing the landscape, the people, and their culture; the social and political vicissitudes of life under colonialism and war; and the troubled relationship between an emerging Christianized middle class and the rural poor. And he shows how the Mau Mau armed struggle for Kenya’s independence against the British informed not only his own life but also the lives of those closest to him.
Dreams in a Time of War speaks to the human right to dream even in the worst of times. It abounds in delicate and powerful subtleties and complexities that are movingly told.
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A social history of the indigenous people of Kenya and how British colonization affected the country once the British left.Mau Mau and the Kikuyu
by Louis Leakey (no photo)Synopsis:
This widely-acclaimed book on a troubled period of Kenyan history summarizes some of the more important Kikuyu customs, and a discussion of their break-down under the impact of European civilization. This discussion illustrates why and how the Mau Mau came into being and how the situation could be improved so that peace could once again come to Kenya.
A little different look at Kenya and that country's ties and relationships to Great Britain.Sunset on Mount Kenya
by Chandra Bouri (no photo)Synopsis
This is the life story of one man's journey through life which began in Kenya and took him to London. In telling his story he brings together various experiences he encountered from political unrest to racialism to discrimination. This is as much a story about Kenya as it is about the UK. He recalls his grandparent's work on the Railways and comments on changes in society. It is also about his beliefs and spiritual experiences. Overall he sets out to illustrate how he fared in the mother country after arriving just before the ban was imposed on Asians from Kenya.
The dissolution of hope after Kenyan independence.Kenya; Between Hope and Despair
by Daniel Branch (no photo)Synopsis:
On December 12, 1963, people across Kenya joyfully celebrated independence from British colonial rule, anticipating a bright future of prosperity and social justice. As the nation approaches the fiftieth anniversary of its independence, however, the people's dream remains elusive. During its first five decades Kenya has experienced assassinations, riots, coup attempts, ethnic violence, and political corruption. The ranks of the disaffected, the unemployed, and the poor have multiplied. In this authoritative and insightful account of Kenya's history from 1963 to the present day, Daniel Branch sheds new light on the nation's struggles and the complicated causes behind them.
Branch describes how Kenya constructed itself as a state and how ethnicity has proved a powerful force in national politics from the start, as have disorder and violence. He explores such divisive political issues as the needs of the landless poor, international relations with Britain and with the Cold War superpowers, and the direction of economic development. Tracing an escalation of government corruption over time, the author brings his discussion to the present, paying particular attention to the rigged election of 2007, the subsequent compromise government, and Kenya's prospects as a still-evolving independent state.
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by
Charles HornsbySynopsis:
Since independence in 1963, Kenya has survived nearly five decades as a functioning nation-state, with regular elections, its borders intact and without experiencing war or military rule. However, Kenya's independence has always been circumscribed by its failure to transcend its colonial past; its governments have failed to achieve adequate living conditions for most of its citizens; and its politics have been fraught with controversy - illustrated most recently by the post-election protests and violence in 2007. The decisions of the early years of independence, and the acts of its leaders in the decades since - from Jomo Kenyatta, Tom Mboya and Oginga Odinga to Daniel arap Moi and Mwai Kibaki - have changed the country's path in unpredictable ways. The political elite's endless struggle for access to state resources has damaged Kenya's economy and the political exploitation of ethnicity still threatens the country's stability. In this definitive new history, Charles Hornsby demonstrates how independent Kenya's politics have been dominated by a struggle to deliver security, impartiality, efficiency and growth, but how the legacies of the past have continued to undermine their achievement, making the long-term future of Kenya far from certain.
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by
Nicholas Best Synopsis:
The definitive story of the British in Kenya, from the explorer Joseph Thomson, whose exploits inspired King Solomon’s Mines, to the decadent Happy Valley set of the 1930s, the murder of Lord Erroll, and the Mau Mau revolt of the 1950s.
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by Daniel Branch (no photo)Synopsis:
This book details the devastating Mau Mau civil war fought in Kenya during the 1950s and the legacies of that conflict for the post-colonial state. As many Kikuyu fought with the colonial government as loyalists joined the Mau Mau rebellion. Focusing on the role of those loyalists, the book examines the ways in which residents of the country's Central Highlands sought to navigate a path through the bloodshed and uncertainty of civil war.
It explores the instrumental use of violence, changes to allegiances, and the ways in which cleavages created by the war informed local politics for decades after the conflict's conclusion. Moreover, the book moves toward a more nuanced understanding of the realities and effects of counterinsurgency warfare. Based on archival research in Kenya and the United Kingdom and insights from literature from across the social sciences, the book reconstructs the dilemmas facing members of society at war with itself and its colonial ruler.
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A beautiful book about Lake Victoria, the second largest lake in the world and located in Kenya.Lake Victoria
by
Cari MeisterSynopsis:
Surveys the origin, geological borders, climate, water, plant and animal life, and economic and ecological aspects of the world's second largest lake.
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Release date: June 19, 2017
The Mau Mau Rebellion: The Emergency in Kenya 1952 - 1956
by Nick Van Der Bijl (no photo)Synopsis:
In The Mau Mau Rebellion, the author describes the background to and the course of a short but brutal late colonial campaign in Kenya. The Mau Mau, a violent and secretive Kikuyu society, aimed to restore the proud tribe s pre-colonial superiority and rule. The 1940s saw initial targeting of Africans working for the colonial government and by 1952 the situation had deteriorated so badly that a State of Emergency was declared. The plan for mass arrests leaked and many leaders and supporters escaped to the bush where the gangs formed a military structure. Brutal attacks on both whites and loyal natives caused morale problems and local police and military were overwhelmed. Reinforcements were called in, and harsh measures including mass deportation, protected camps, fines, confiscation of property and extreme intelligence gathering employed were employed. War crimes were committed by both sides.
As this well researched book demonstrates the campaign was ultimately successful militarily, politically the dye was cast and paradoxically colonial rule gave way to independence in 1956.
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by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'oSynopsis:
Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s powerful prison memoir begins half an hour before his release on 12 December 1978. A year earlier, he recalls, armed police arrived at his home and took him to Kenya’s Kamiti Maximum Security Prison. There, Ngugi lives in a block alongside other political prisoners, but he refuses to give in to the humiliation. He decides to write a novel in secret, on toilet paper – it is a book that will become his classic, Devil on the Cross.
Wrestling with the Devil is Ngugi’s unforgettable account of the drama and challenges of living under twenty-four-hour surveillance. He captures not only the pain caused by his isolation from his family, but also the spirit of defiance and the imaginative endeavours that allowed him to survive
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Books mentioned in this topic
Wrestling with the Devil: A Prison Memoir (other topics)Mau Mau Rebellion: The Emergency in Kenya 1952–1956 (other topics)
Lake Victoria (other topics)
Defeating Mau Mau, Creating Kenya: Counterinsurgency, Civil War, and Decolonization (other topics)
Happy Valley: The Story of the English in Kenya (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (other topics)Nick Van Der Bijl (other topics)
Cari Meister (other topics)
Daniel Branch (other topics)
Nicholas Best (other topics)
More...
The Republic of Kenya (pronounced /ˈkɛnjə/) is a country in East Africa.
Lying along the Indian Ocean to its southeast and at the equator, Kenya is bordered by Somalia to the northeast, Ethiopia to the north, Sudan to the northwest, Uganda to the west and Tanzania to the south.
Lake Victoria is to the southwest and is shared between Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. Kenya has numerous wildlife reserves, containing thousands of animal species. The capital city is Nairobi. Kenya's area is 580,000 km2 with a population of nearly 39 million[5] which is diverse: more than 40[6] different ethnic groups are present.
The country is named after Mount Kenya, a significant landmark and second among Africa's highest mountain peaks.
Source: Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenya
Where is Kenya located in Africa?
Its Flag:
< img src= "http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia..." />
Nairobi is its capital.