Mau Mau from Within
The Story of the Kenya Land and Freedom Army
by Donald L. Barnett and Karari NjamaWith Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo, Gitu wa Kahengeri
The inside story of the forest army, written by one of its senior leaders.
KES 6,000
- Published
- January 2021
- Pages
- 500
- Language
- English
- Publisher
- Daraja Press
About the book
The inside story of the struggles of the Kenya Land and Freedom Army, which British colonialism called the 'Mau Mau rebellion', is little known today. The autobiographical material written by Karari Njama, a senior leader in the Mau Mau hierarchy, and compiled by Donald L. Barnett was first published by Monthly Review Press in 1966 as Mau Mau From Within: An Analysis of Kenya's Peasant Revolt. It was reprinted in 1970 and then stayed out of print for many years.
The book is an extraordinary story of courage, passion, and heroism, alongside colonial terror, brutality, and betrayal. It shows how the very idea of being Kenyan was tied to the idea of freedom, a connection destroyed not only by British firepower but also by those who collaborated and made themselves the beneficiaries of neocolonial rule. Cut off from freedom, identity was left a caricature that rapidly descended into tribalism and ethnicity.
Njama writes of the forest leaders' efforts to overcome dissension, to evolve effective tactics, to keep discipline, mete out justice... and to teach men how to survive in those merciless forests. His narrative is crowded with excitement. Those who know much of Africa and those who know little will alike find it compulsive reading. Some 10,000 Africans died fighting in those years. Here, in the harsh detail of everyday experience, are the reasons why.
What it entails
Karari Njama's own account of the forest leadership
Efforts to overcome dissension, keep discipline, and mete out justice
The tactics and daily survival of fighters in the forests
How being Kenyan and being free were bound together, and then pulled apart
This new and expanded edition adds contributions from Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo, and Gitu wa Kahengeri
10,000
Africans who died fighting, in Basil Davidson's review
The record
- Title
- Mau Mau from Within
- Subtitle
- The Story of the Kenya Land and Freedom Army
- Authors
- Donald L. Barnett and Karari Njama
- Contributors
- Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Mĩcere Gĩthae Mũgo, Gitu wa Kahengeri
- Publisher
- Daraja Press
- Published
- January 2021
- Pages
- 500
- Language
- English
- Format
- Soft cover, 6 x 9 in, black and white
- Edition
- New and expanded edition
- First published
- Monthly Review Press, 1966. Reprinted 1970.
- ISBN (print)
- 978-1-988832-59-3
- ISBN (ebook)
- 978-1-988832-60-9
Where it is sold
Read more about it
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