A thousand words can never do justice to this tremendous collection, so I will state at the outset that it is a must read. This book is not just about Mau Mau, or even Kenya. By comparison and implication, it addresses the issues of modern African states that were forced to follow the incredibly inappropriate European nation-state model as their only option to join the global world... As a book addressing many of the complexities of the African state and ethnicity, this collection provides new approaches, skilful writing, imaginative topics, and in-depth analyses on new dimensions and complexities of decolonization and nationalism.

• Introduction; Mau Mau & nationhood: the untold story by Bethwell A. Ogot; Matunda ya uhuru; fruits of independence: on nationalism in Kenya by E.S. Atieno Odhiambo; Authority, gender & violence: the war within Mau Mau's fight for land & freedom by John Lonsdale; Writing in revolution: independent schooling and Mau Mau in Nyeri by Derek Peterson; Complementary or contending nationhoods? Kikuyu pamphlets & songs, 1945-52 by Christiana Pugliese; Mau Mau & the arming of the state by David A. Percox; The battle of Dundora Swamp: reconstructing the Kenya Land & Freedom Army, October 1954 by David M. Anderson; 'Impossible to ignore their greatness': survival craft in the Mau Mau Forest Movement by Kennell Jackson, Jr.; Detention, rehabilitation & the destruction of Kikuyu society by Caroline Elkins - 'Daddy wouldn't buy me a Mau Mau': the British popular press & the demoralisation of empire by Joanna Lewis; Mau Mau & the contest for memory by Marshall S. Clough; The nation & narration: 'The truths of the nation' and the changing image of Mau Mau in Kenyan literature by James Ogude; Bibliography

A thousand words can never do justice to this tremendous collection, so I will state at the outset that it is a must read. This book is not just about Mau Mau, or even Kenya. By comparison and implication, it addresses the issues of modern African states that were forced to follow the incredibly inappropriate European nation-state model as their only option to join the global world... As a book addressing many of the complexities of the African state and ethnicity, this collection provides new approaches, skilful writing, imaginative topics, and in-depth analyses on new dimensions and complexities of decolonization and nationalism.

• Introduction; Mau Mau & nationhood: the untold story by Bethwell A. Ogot; Matunda ya uhuru; fruits of independence: on nationalism in Kenya by E.S. Atieno Odhiambo; Authority, gender & violence: the war within Mau Mau's fight for land & freedom by John Lonsdale; Writing in revolution: independent schooling and Mau Mau in Nyeri by Derek Peterson; Complementary or contending nationhoods? Kikuyu pamphlets & songs, 1945-52 by Christiana Pugliese; Mau Mau & the arming of the state by David A. Percox; The battle of Dundora Swamp: reconstructing the Kenya Land & Freedom Army, October 1954 by David M. Anderson; 'Impossible to ignore their greatness': survival craft in the Mau Mau Forest Movement by Kennell Jackson, Jr.; Detention, rehabilitation & the destruction of Kikuyu society by Caroline Elkins - 'Daddy wouldn't buy me a Mau Mau': the British popular press & the demoralisation of empire by Joanna Lewis; Mau Mau & the contest for memory by Marshall S. Clough; The nation & narration: 'The truths of the nation' and the changing image of Mau Mau in Kenyan literature by James Ogude; Bibliography

A thousand words can never do justice to this tremendous collection, so I will state at the outset that it is a must read. This book is not just about Mau Mau, or even Kenya. By comparison and implication, it addresses the issues of modern African states that were forced to follow the incredibly inappropriate European nation-state model as their only option to join the global world... As a book addressing many of the complexities of the African state and ethnicity, this collection provides new approaches, skilful writing, imaginative topics, and in-depth analyses on new dimensions and complexities of decolonization and nationalism.

• Introduction; Mau Mau & nationhood: the untold story by Bethwell A. Ogot; Matunda ya uhuru; fruits of independence: on nationalism in Kenya by E.S. Atieno Odhiambo; Authority, gender & violence: the war within Mau Mau's fight for land & freedom by John Lonsdale; Writing in revolution: independent schooling and Mau Mau in Nyeri by Derek Peterson; Complementary or contending nationhoods? Kikuyu pamphlets & songs, 1945-52 by Christiana Pugliese; Mau Mau & the arming of the state by David A. Percox; The battle of Dundora Swamp: reconstructing the Kenya Land & Freedom Army, October 1954 by David M. Anderson; 'Impossible to ignore their greatness': survival craft in the Mau Mau Forest Movement by Kennell Jackson, Jr.; Detention, rehabilitation & the destruction of Kikuyu society by Caroline Elkins - 'Daddy wouldn't buy me a Mau Mau': the British popular press & the demoralisation of empire by Joanna Lewis; Mau Mau & the contest for memory by Marshall S. Clough; The nation & narration: 'The truths of the nation' and the changing image of Mau Mau in Kenyan literature by James Ogude; Bibliography