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

This book deals with a sensitive topic to all involved and interested. The Mau Mau. Elkins does a superb job in highlighting the horrors of the time for exactly what they were. To me, and probably many Kenyans, this book is not so much shocking and revealing as much as an extensive and readable account of the terrors during the colonial rebellion experienced by the nation and particularly the Kikuyu people. It reminds us of the dehumanising and brutal nature of Britains 'civilising' mission in our country. This book is not about picking at old wounds, but rather ensuring better futures, it is about the words 'never again!'.
I implore reader's to read this book; despite the other reviews contained here at Amazon (many of whom found the accounts described in the book far from palatable), it is actually a well investigated piece with references and sources to match. Read it, if not just for the controversy it has ignited.

A load of old dangerous rubbish some people will believe... (5/10 people found this helpful)

Having lived in Kenya for several years and married a Kikuyu, I read this book with initial interest. I soon realised that Elkins was out to make a point, and a very wrong and dangerous one at that.

Even I started to believe what she wrote with her mountains of invisible 'evidence' backing up each story, but I soon realised that none of this was actually proved; for every case, records had all been conveniently destroyed.

I lived with the Kikuyus, Luos and Luhyas and I never (not once) heard a word said about any horrific incidents or treatment dealt out by the British, that the author goes into so much pain to describe. In fact the only harsh word I ever heard about any colonialist, was aimed at the Dutch!

My father-in-law (a mzee born circa 1940) would be the first to tell me if any of these horrors had they really occurred, but he hasn't, and when I asked him on a recent visit (with this book still fresh in my mind) whether any of this happened, he quite literally laughed in my face.

This sort of nonsense is so dangerous to write and read because it causes unnecessary resentment and racism in a world where there really is too much violence already. If Elkins thinks she is reporting unbiasedly on an historic event and in doing so helping the world become a better and more informed place, she is very very wrong. In fact what she is doing is feeding the fire of hatred and misunderstanding. This book should not have been published.

Is this a valid account of the events in Kenya at that time? (4/8 people found this helpful)

This is another extremely sensationalist account of the horrors of that time and fails therefore to provide an unbiased assessment of the problems for both the British administration and those who they governed at that time. There are other less well-known accounts which provide much better assessments for true historians.

Over Sensationalised? (6/8 people found this helpful)

This is a well written book with lots of material to consider. My main criticism is that, as I read the book, I got the feeling that the first-hand evidence actually presented did not match with the words and language used by the author. Throughout the latter stages of the book are numerous letters from the detainees at the detention camps detailed in the book. Whilst the author paints a picture of thousands of deaths from torture and other abuses, the letters themselves, some from the worst-of-the-worst camps that are frequently compared to Nazi concentration camps, detail 3-5 alledged deaths during interrogation over a 6 month period. Does this really compare to the Nazi concentration camps? Elkins does not explain this seeming mis-match. Perhaps it was due to the language used by the detainees? Perhaps it stems from the files that are missing from the official records? (Maybe it's just my reading of the texts?).

There clearly were a lot of nasty things happening in Kenya (and other countries) towards the end of empire. The trouble with this oversight/oversensationalistion is that the enormous amount of research that Elkins undertook could have perhaps been used more thoroughly to really shed light on exactly what happened. This book doesn't quite do that.

Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire (5/8 people found this helpful)

'History' is defined by Dr. John Lonsdale, Emeritus Professor of History at Trinity College, Cambridge, as "A testimony of past events that someone who took part in those events could recognise as a true record". No one who conforms to that definition could regard this book even remotely as 'History'.

Pascal J. Imperato, an acknowledged authority on African History, in a review of the book for the African Studies Review, Volume 48, Number 3, December 2005, opines, "The author of this work, has attempted to drape herself uniquely in an academic mantle, namely her assistant professorship in Harvard's history department. There is obvious subterfuge here. In failing to inform readers of her primary role as a politcal activist, she has attempted to camouflage the bias this clearly imparts to her historical narrative".

As one who took part in the Mau Mau conflict, who has written extensively on the subject from my own and other's eye-witness accounts, I cannot but whole-heartedly agree.

The book rests heavily on fragile testimony, faulty data and unconvincing intuition. It casts scurrilous and mischievous aspersions on thousands of Kikuyu countrymen who fought to rid themselves of a thoroughly evil insurgency, together with hundreds of Kenyans of all races who served with or alongside the Kenya Police, to make Kenya the thriving country it is today.

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

Caroline Elkins

Reader Reviews:

Forget the Hype... (6/8 people found this helpful)

A load of old dangerous rubbish some people will believe... (5/10 people found this helpful)

Is this a valid account of the events in Kenya at that time? (4/8 people found this helpful)

Over Sensationalised? (6/8 people found this helpful)

Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire (5/8 people found this helpful)

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