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The economic history of developing countries, particularly the former colonies, has become polarized between two ideologies. The apologists for colonialism have emphasized the stimulus given to the indigenous economy by the introduction of foreign capital; the 'underdevelopment theorists' have turned this interpretation on its head and represented the relationship as being, particularly in 'settler colonies' such as Kenya and Zimbabwe, one not of stimulus but of rape and plunder. In this study, Dr Mosley considers the economies of colonial Kenya and Southern Rhodesia and argues, in the light of recently assembled statistical data, that the truth is more complex than either of these simple interpretations allows. At the level of policy, most white producers acknowledged that they could not afford to let 'white mate black in a very few moves': they needed his cheap labour, cattle and maize too much to wish to damage seriously the peasant economy that sustained them. ... Read more

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How Media and Politics Intersect in Africa

Gerry Loughran's book tells a dramatic and significant story of a young country and a young media company, growing up together in the second half of the 20th century.The narrative is fast-paced, the history carefully corroborated, the lessons highly relevant at a time when so much history--in Africa and elsewhere--is being shaped at the intersection of media and politics.Students of journalism and international affairs can profit enormously by sharing in this important book.

Lee Huebner, Airlie Professor of Media and Public Affairs, The George Washington University
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The book focuses on the politics of democratization in Africa, especially the strategic choices of the political elite, both incumbent and opposition within the context of transition politics. The decade 1990- 2000 saw a total of 78 top leadership elections involving 43 of the 48 sub-Saharan African countries. Of these elections, only 27% led to regime change. Yet even where regime change occurred, authoritarianism persisted. The objective of the book is to analyze and explain this dual paradox of limited change of regime and persistent authoritarianism in the face of democratization. Its central thesis is that this eventuality is a function of the strategic environment of political engagement, which was not reshaped fundamentally to enable the emergence of a new mode of politics.

Whereas the book focuses on Kenya and Zambia, it draws examples from a cross-section of African countries and its conclusions are applicable to most African countries and other democratizing countries across the world. The significance of the book is that it eschews country-specific analysis and employs the comparative approach in examining the social struggles for democracy in Africa. Its treatment of the rise of authoritarianism and the democratic counter-forces as well as the juxtaposition of "demo-pessimists" and "demoptimists" in Africanist scholarship is particularly innovative and cogently illuminating. ... Read more

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An account of the first years of white settlement in Kenya. ... Read more

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The Kenya Pioneers
I've read many books about Kenya and East Africa (including this author's three biographies), and learned some new and interesting things from this book. The edition I read(Paperback), however, was so poorly written/editedas to make the content hard to follow and digest: people reoccurred fromchapter to chapter without sufficient tie-ins; there were spelling errors,grammatical errors, and typographical errors. ... Read more

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This book is an important contribution to identifying Kenya's biodiversity conservation priorities. It describes in detail 60 sites in Kenya that meet the criteria for Important Bird Areas (IBAs) - places of global significance for bird and biodiversity conservation. "Important Bird Areas in Kenya" will interest environmental planners, policy makers, wildlife managers, students and researchers. It will also be an essential source of information for birdwatchers wanting to locate Kenya's special birds. ... Read more

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The African Christian Roho religion, or Holy Spirit movement, is a charismatic and prophetic movement that arose in the Luo region of western Kenya. This movement has fascinated students of history and religion for more than sixty years, but surprisingly has not been extensively studied. This book fills that lacuna.

In Women of Fire and Spirit, Cynthia Hoehler-Fatton uses the extensive oral histories and life narratives of active participants in the faith, giving them full voice in constructing the history of their Church. In doing so, she counter-balances the existing historical literature, which draws heavily on colonial records. Hoehler-Fatton's sources call into question the paradigm of "schism" that has dominated the discussion of African independent Christianity. Faith, rather than schism or politics, emerges here as the hallmark of Roho religion.

Hoehler-Fatton's book is doubly unusual in foregrounding the role of women in the evolution and expansion of their Church. She traces the gradual transformation of women's involvement from the early years when--drawing on indigenous models of female spirit possession--women acted as soldiers, headed congregations, and served as pastors, to the present condition of Western-style institutionalization and exclusion for women. Despite this marginalization, women members continue to be inspired by the defiance of past heroines. ... Read more

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Chapters: List of Names on Mount Kenya, Climate of Mount Kenya, Natural History of Mount Kenya, Mountaineering on Mount Kenya, No Picnic on Mount Kenya, Mount Kenya National Park, Kenya Mountain, Nyeri District, Naro Moru River. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 88. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Mount Kenya -Mount Kenya National Park, established in 1949, protects the region surrounding the mountain. Currently the national park is within the forest reserve which encircles it. In April 1978 the area was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve. The national park and the forest reserve, combined, became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. The Government of Kenya had four reasons for creating a national park on and around Mount Kenya. These were the importance of tourism for the local and national economies, to preserve an area of great scenic beauty, to conserve the biodiversity within the park, and to preserve the water catchment for the surrounding area. Many new routes were climbed on Batian and Nelion in the next three decades, and in October 1959 the Mountain Club of Kenya produced their first guide to Mount Kenya and Kilimanjaro. On Kenyan independence in 1963 Kisoi Munayo raised the Kenyan flag at the top of the mountain. He died in 2007 and was given a heroic funeral attended by the Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki. In the early 1970s the Mount Kenya National Park Mountain Rescue Team was formed, and by the end of the 1970s all major routes on the peaks had been climbed. In 1997 Mount Kenya was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Mount Kenya is important to all the ethnic communities living around it.The main ethnic groups living around Mount Kenya are Kky, Ameru, Embu and Maasai. They all see the mountain as an important aspect of their cultures. Several ethnic groups th...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=365927 ... Read more

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This book relates a series of events leading from Kenya’s colonization through its emergence as an independent country.Beginning with the advent of Europeans in the late 1800s, it presents Kenya as a land of contrasts—in geography as well as people. Home to Arabs, Indians and Europeans as well as various African tribes, Kenya experienced strife throughout its colonial history. Gatheru discusses the viewpoint of the Kenyan people, enumerating the events and attitudes that led to the eruption of violence. Covered in particular are the economic, political and social policies Britain established toward its colonials. The role of Kenyan reform leaders such as Harry Thuku and Jomo Kenyatta in the country’s struggle for independence is also examined.Although Gatheru is quick to establish that Britain’s original intentions were admirable, he reveals how the Mau Mau rebellion, which began in 1952, was the ultimate culmination of sixty years of increasingly destructive British policies. The closing chapters of the book deal with the granting of Kenyan independence in 1963, the aftermath of independence, and the plans of Kenya’s newborn government for dealing with the issues of labor, agriculture and land ownership. ... Read more

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Western-educated Elites in Kenya, 1900-1963: The African American Factor proposes to conduct a critical examination of the emergence of the American-educated Kenyan elites (the Asomi) and their role in the nationalist movement and eventually their Africanization of the Civil and Private sectors in Kenya. These historic leaders considered the struggle to eliminate racism and shed the yoke of colonialism in Africa, the Caribbean, and America as one fight against one common enemy, the European. Their efforts resulted in the development of the American-educated Asomi in Kenya. I wrote this book to provide a historical perspective on development of western-educated Kenyans. The work is divided into five chapters that consist of an examination of Traditional, Islamic, Missionary, and government education and the subsequent higher education that Kenyan students received in the United States prior to returning to their homeland. It is written for advanced undergraduates, graduated students, and historians, who already possess a general knowledge about Kenyan history, but want a deeper understanding of the global influence of the Pan-African movement in the first half of the twentieth century.This text depicts the commonalities that existed between Africans and African-Americans during their fights for independence and equality. ... Read more

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A ready reference to the history and culture of this complicated and important African nation. Entries cover the important people, places, events, and culture of the nation. A thorough introduction provides important context for first time students of Kenya, and the bibliography will serve both novice and experienced researchers in good stead. ... Read more

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For Africanists and Historians
Brantley's book, The Giriama and Colonial Resistance in Kenya, 1800-1920, is well researched and coherently written. The book concerns the role played by the Giriama (a fairly small tribe whose homeland is near thecoast in what is now Kenya) in resistance to colonial rule. A good portionis devoted to the Giriama rebellion of 1913. I find East African historyfascinating: I like history have had an interest in Africa since the 1960sand am married to a Giriama.However, this book is not everyone's cup ofchai. It suffers from that which makes most scholarly works dry: recitationof lots of facts and cautiously drawn conclusions. It does have a feel ofauthenticity and some immediateness (my wife knows or knows of some of theindividuals that Brantley uses as sources).One item of interest is thatone of the main leaders of the Giriama restistance in 1913 was a woman. ... Read more

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Abushed By Love
Abushed By Love is a book of stories of Kenyan Christians, mostly from the Kikuyu language group, who stood for their faith when their life was at stake.My wife and I have lived in Kenya for several years and have met several of these people whose stories are inclued.

The book grabs your attention and is hard to put down.The stories are on a parr with many of the heroes coming out of the Nazi era and other places where people were being forced to join a movement that could not gain alegence in normal ways.If one has to use force to get people to follow, there is something wrong with the idea or movement. ... Read more

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In this age of globalization, fear of terrorist threats and pandemic diseases such as AIDS, author Jean Davison returns to Mt. Kenya's foothills to discover how farmers whose lives she has followed for 20 years, view the changes of the last decade, especially the seismic shift in the political landscape at the end of 2002.It's a tumultuous moment; villagers are dancing in the streets.They walked miles to vote.The sole party in power since independence was trounced.With keen insight and a sensitivity born of living elbow to elbow with Kenyan villagers, Davison captures their anxieties and hopes for the future and links them to our own hopes in America.Part travel tale and part social commentary, "The Ostrich Wakes" both engages and enlightens us.It is unique in drawing on the voices of both elders and, especially, young people and weaving them into her story. ... Read more

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A collection of stories depicting a dramatic national metamorphosis
Reviewed by Richard R. Blake for Reader Views (5/07)

Dr. Jean Davison, an anthropologist, returns to visit the foothills of Mt. Kenya. Davison returns to Kenya to discover how the Gikuyu farmers view the changes of the last decade in their country.Her return to a land where she had lived, worked and studied twenty years earlier came at the very time the political party in power since Kenya received independence, had been replaced.Excitement was everywhere. Expectations were high.

The remote rural areas of Kenya have become linked to the global coffee and tea markets, as well as the internet, TV, and cell phones. Any change will benefit some and disadvantage others in this age of globalization.The title of the book "The Ostrich Wakes" speaks of the many changes in Highland Kenya: the coming of electricity, improved transportation, and the availability of education. This is a wakeup call at a time of crisis. Davison was particularly concerned about the impact of these changes in relation to "Women's Concerns" in education, economic opportunity, property rights, overpopulation, family planning skills, and "AIDS."

Dr. Davison contacted village elders and youth alike to learn how they had been impacted through these transitions. She visited old friends to interview them about the long awaited changes in the government, the uncertainties of the economy, of the trends in agricultural, and the educational opportunities available to the children and youth of Kenya.

As she retraced her steps of earlier visits she was particularly interested in how traditions, customs, rituals, and coming of age rites had changed since her last visit.Among others she interviewed four generations of one family to get a comparison of how time and education have impacted how they learn, what they had learned by observing their mothers, and what they had learned in the more formal school setting. Many of those interviewed were open and frank, and shared freely in their stories of coming of age, marriage and childbirth.Others were more private, especially when questions concerned the older rituals and rites associated with girls coming of age.

I appreciated the unique approach Dr. Davison used to present the results of her research.She writes using a story form narrative in her interviews. Her presentation of background material on the government, history, and geography of Kenya is woven into the stories in a unique and entertaining way.

The subject matter of "The Ostrich Wakes" is enlightening and useful, an important addition to the studies available on the threat, prevention, and treatment of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in third world communities.It is the story of an awakening of a people from the lethargy and sense of despair.This is a book of travel, of warm stories from peoples of another culture, as well as the results of an anthropology research study.

A compelling, informative, and highly recommended history of social struggle and progress
Anthropologist, academician and lecturer Jean Davison is the founder of the `International Development and Education Association', a non-profit group dedicated to linking small communities in Africa, Asia, and Latin America through developing seed funding for self-help projects with sponsoring groups in the United States and Canada. "The Ostrich Wakes: Struggles For Change In Highland Kenya" is the story of the women of Kenya who some twenty-five years ago lived under cultural, political, religious, and economic circumstances that subjected them to the devastation of female circumcision, lethal communicable diseases, forced marriages, physical and sexual abuse on a daily basis, and a lack of educational opportunities, but today are becoming educated and active in urban small businesses, seeing substantial improvements in health, and governmental laws providing them protections that include being able to reject genital cutting, refusal of marriage proposals, prosecution for rape (a practice so wide spread in Kenya that Kenyan leaders declared it as their nation's most pervasive human rights issue). A compelling, informative, and highly recommended history of social struggle and progress in Kenya, "The Ostrich Wakes" is enhanced with the inclusion of numerous notes and a glossary. ... Read more