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OverviewA controversial and authoritative account of the waning days of British Empire in Kenya, and the little known destruction of thousands of Kenyans at the hands of the British. Only a few years after Britain defeated fascism came the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya - a mass armed rebellion by the Kikuyu people, demanding the return of their land and freedom. The draconian response of Britain's colonial government was to detain nearly the entire Kikuyu population of 1.5 million and to portray them as sub-human savages. Detainees in their thousands - possibly a hundred thousand or more - died from exhaustion, disease, starvation and systemic physical brutality. For decades these events remained untold. Caroline Elkins conducted years of research to piece together this story, unearthing reams of documents and interviewing several hundred Kikuyu survivors. Britain's Gulag reveals, for the first time, the full savagery of the Mau Mau war and the ruthless determination with which Britain sought to control its empire. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Caroline ElkinsPublisher: Vintage Publishing Imprint: The Bodley Head Ltd Dimensions: Width: 15.50cm , Height: 3.70cm , Length: 23.40cm Weight: 0.596kg ISBN: 9781847922946ISBN 10: 1847922945 Pages: 496 Publication Date: 13 March 2014 Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , College/higher education , General , Professional & Vocational Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: To order  Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us. Table of ContentsReviewsA tale of systematic violence and high-level cover-ups * Guardian * Caroline Elkins has starkly illuminated one of the darkest secrets of late British imperialism. She has shown how, even when they profess the most altruistic of intentions, empires can still be brutal in their response to dissent by subject peoples. We all need reminding of that today -- Niall Ferguson Given the number and nature of the atrocities that filled the 20th century, the degree of brutality and violence perpetrated by British settlers, police, army and their African loyalist supporters against the Kikuyu during the Mau Mau period should not be surprising. Nor, perhaps, the fact that the British government turned a blind eye, and later covered them up. What is surprising, however, is that it has taken so long to document the whole ghastly story-this is what makes Caroline Elkins's disturbing and horrifying account so important and memorable -- Caroline Moorehead Author InformationCaroline Elkins is an Assistant Professor of History at Harvard University and the recipient of numerous awards, including a Fulbright and an Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship. Her research for Britain's Gulag was the subject of the BBC documentary Kenya- White Terror, which was shown in Britain in November 2002 and was awarded the International Committee of the Red Cross prize at the Monte Carlo Festival. She lives with her family in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |
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