Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya

Elkins, Caroline

ISBN 10: 1847922945 / ISBN 13: 9781847922946

Published by The Bodley Head Ltd, 2014

Your purchase helps support Sri Lankan Children's Charity 'The Rainbow Centre'. Shows some signs of wear but in good overall condition. Our donations to The Rainbow Centre have helped provide an education and a safe haven to hundreds of children who live in appalling conditions. Seller Inventory # Z1-H-003-01863

Synopsis:

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.

Review: "This is the once and continuing dark side we can never escape - or honestly acknowledge...this is where we have been and may stray again" (Peter Preston Observer)

"It is a story which has never before been told...It is a story of unremitting brutality, rape and torture" (Christopher Hudson, Daily Mail)

"The Mau Mau did not get the recognition due to them...and Britain never got the comeuppance it deserved. Half a century later, a 'revisionist' historian like [Niall] Ferguson, seeking to rehabilitate the empire after a decent interval, could still blithely ignore the whole affair. This is no longer an option...Elkins [has] seen to that" (Bernard Porter London Review of Books)

"This vital study... shocking" (Ian Critchley Sunday Times)

Bibliographic Details

Title: Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in...
Publisher: The Bodley Head Ltd
Publication Date: 2014
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: Good