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The Life and Times of General China: Mau Mau and the End of Empire in Kenya. Edited by Myles Osborne. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener Publishers, 2015. Pp. xix, 282; map, notes, bibliography. $88.95 cloth, $26.95 paper.
Few episodes in African history have attracted as much attention as Mau Mau. (The November, 2000, African Studies Association conference featured a panel called "Mau Mau in the New Millennium," during which a senior scholar in the audience was heard to whisper in despair: "Great, another thousand years of Mau Mau!") Over the past decade, the usual outpouring of books and articles has been complemented by lawsuits and rediscovered "lost files," ensuring several more decades of Mau Mau scholarship. But Osborne's edited volume is, to the best of my knowledge, the first collection of primary documents on Mau Mau, and as such is a worthy addition to our sagging Mau Mau bookshelves.
Osborne's focus is Waruhiu Itote, better known by his nom de guerre, General China. China has long been a controversial figure in Kenya. He took the "Mau Mau" oath in 1950, and entered the forests of Mount Kenya with forty recruits to begin their military training a month before the Declaration of Emergency. On January 15, 1954, he was shot by colonial forces and taken prisoner. Either following up on discussions held in the forests (according to China) or acting traitorously to save his own life (according to some Mau Mau partisans), China agreed to assist the colonial government in peace negotiations with Mau Mau. Although unsuccessful in bringing the war to an end, China's life was spared. He spent several years in detention with Kenyatta, who later rewarded his...