Download or read book Tales from Mount Kenya written by Ngumbu Njururi and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book No Picnic on Mount Kenya written by Felice Benuzzi and published by MacLehose Press. This book was released on 2017-10-10 with total page 283 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the shadow of Mount Kenya, surrounded by the forests and creatures of the savannah, life drags interminably for the inmates of POW Camp 354, captured in Africa during World War II. Confined to an endless cycle of boredom and frustration, one prisoner realizes he can bear it no longer. When the clouds covering Mount Kenya part one morning to reveal its towering peaks for the first time, Felice Benuzzi is transfixed. The tedium of camp life is broken by the beginnings of a sudden idea--an outrageous, dangerous, brilliant idea. Not many people would break out of a POW camp and trek for days across perilous terrain before climbing the north face of Mount Kenya with improvised equipment, meager rations, and a picture of the mountain on a tin of beef as their most accurate guide. Fewer still would break back into the camp on their return. This is the remarkable story of three such men--a powerful testament to the human spirit of rebellion and adventure--reissued in a deluxe edition featuring Benuzzi's own watercolor paintings of the expedition and a final chapter that has never before appeared in English.
Download or read book Facing Mount Kenya written by Jomo Kenyatta and published by African Books Collective. This book was released on 1978-12-29 with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Facing Mount Kenya, first published in 1938, is a monograph on the life and customs of the Gikuyu people of central Kenya prior to their contact with Europeans. It is unique in anthropological literature for it gives an account of the social institutions and religious rites of an African people, permeated by the emotions that give to customs and observances their meaning. It is characterised by both insight and a tinge of romanticism. The author, proud of his African blood and ways of thought, takes the reader through a thorough and clear picture of Gikuyu life and customs, painting an almost utopian picture of their social norms and the sophisticated codes by which all aspects of the society were governed. This book is one of a kind, capturing and documenting traditions fast disappearing. It is therefore a must-read for all who want to learn about African culture.
Download or read book Tales from Mount Kenya written by Ngumbu Njururi and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Kenya written by Daniel Branch and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2011-11-15 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On December 12, 1963, people across Kenya joyfully celebrated independence from British colonial rule, anticipating a bright future of prosperity and social justice. As the nation approaches the fiftieth anniversary of its independence, however, the people's dream remains elusive. During its first five decades Kenya has experienced assassinations, riots, coup attempts, ethnic violence, and political corruption. The ranks of the disaffected, the unemployed, and the poor have multiplied. In this authoritative and insightful account of Kenya's history from 1963 to the present day, Daniel Branch sheds new light on the nation's struggles and the complicated causes behind them.Branch describes how Kenya constructed itself as a state and how ethnicity has proved a powerful force in national politics from the start, as have disorder and violence. He explores such divisive political issues as the needs of the landless poor, international relations with Britain and with the Cold War superpowers, and the direction of economic development. Tracing an escalation of government corruption over time, the author brings his discussion to the present, paying particular attention to the rigged election of 2007, the subsequent compromise government, and Kenya's prospects as a still-evolving independent state.
Download or read book Kenya written by Charles Hornsby and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2013-03-01 with total page 1102 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since independence from Great Britain in 1963, Kenya has survived five decades as a functioning nation-state, holding regular elections; its borders and political system intact and avoiding open war with its neighbours and military rule internally. It has been a favoured site for Western aid, trade, investment and tourism and has remained a close security partner for Western governments. However, Kenya's successive governments have failed to achieve adequate living conditions for most of its citizens; violence, corruption and tribalism have been ever-present, and its politics have failed to transcend its history. The decisions of the early years of independence and the acts of its leaders in the decades since have changed the country's path in unpredictable ways, but key themes of conflicts remain: over land, money, power, economic policy, national autonomy and the distribution of resources between classes and communities.While the country's political institutions have remained stable, the nation has changed, its population increasing nearly five-fold in five decades. But the economic and political elite's struggle for state resources and the exploitation of ethnicity for political purposes still threaten the country's existence. Today, Kenyans are arguing over many of the issues that divided them 50 years ago. The new constitution promulgated in 2010 provides an opportunity for national renewal, but it must confront a heavy legacy of history. This book reveals that history.
Download or read book Britain s Gulag written by Caroline Elkins and published by Random House. This book was released on 2023-09-21 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book It s Our Turn to Eat written by Michela Wrong and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-06-03 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of one man’s fight against corruption: "like a John Le Carré novel” that shows “how and why Kenya descended into political violence” (Washington Post). In January 2003, Kenya was hailed as a model of democracy after the peaceful election of President Mwai Kibaki. By appointing respected longtime reformer John Githongo as anticorruption czar, the new Kikuyu government signaled its determination to end the shady practices that had tainted the previous regime. Yet only two years later, Githongo himself was on the run, having secretly compiled evidence of official malfeasance throughout the new administration. Unable to remain silent, Githongo, at great personal risk, made the painful choice to go public. The result was a Kenyan Watergate. Michela Wrong’s account of how a pillar of the establishment turned whistle-blower—instantly becoming one of the most hated and admired men in Kenya—grips like a political thriller while probing the very roots of the nation’s predicament. “A fast-paced political thriller. . . . Wrong’s gripping, thoughtful book stands as both a tribute to Githongo’s courage and a cautionary tale.” —New York Times Book Review
Download or read book Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya written by Cameron Burns and published by . This book was released on 1998 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cameron Burns presents a detailed guide to t hirty of the majour routes for climbers in the East African mountains of Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya. '
Download or read book The Best of African Folklore written by Phyllis Savory and published by Penguin Random House South Africa. This book was released on 2015-03-27 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Africa has a wonderfully rich store of folk tales that have been passed down from one generation to the next. There are stories about how the world came into being, stories that tell of the relationships between human beings and between man and his environment, and of the lessons to be learned from everyday experience. The tales are like the fairy talkes told all over the world, but they have a strong African flavour that is as real as the smell of rain on hot earth. The Best of African Folklore takes the reader into an enchanted world where animals can talk and humans are often changed into different forms, where magic is commonplace and reality is turned delightfully on its head. Despite numerous setbacks, things usually turn out all right in the end. Wicked and greedy people (and animals) come off worst and the good receive their just rewards. The gods are stern but fair, and every story has a moral for those who are wise enough to see it.
Download or read book The Perfect Nine written by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o and published by The New Press. This book was released on 2020-10-06 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dazzling, genre-defying novel in verse from the author Delia Owens says “tackles the absurdities, injustices, and corruption of a continent” Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o’s novels and memoirs have received glowing praise from the likes of President Barack Obama, the New Yorker, the New York Times Book Review, The Guardian, and NPR; he has been a finalist for the Man International Booker Prize and is annually tipped to win the Nobel Prize for Literature; and his books have sold tens of thousands of copies around the world. In his first attempt at the epic form, Ngũgĩ tells the story of the founding of the Gĩkũyũ people of Kenya, from a strongly feminist perspective. A verse narrative, blending folklore, mythology, adventure, and allegory, The Perfect Nine chronicles the efforts the Gĩkũyũ founders make to find partners for their ten beautiful daughters—called “The Perfect Nine” —and the challenges they set for the 99 suitors who seek their hands in marriage. The epic has all the elements of adventure, with suspense, danger, humor, and sacrifice. Ngũgĩ’s epic is a quest for the beautiful as an ideal of living, as the motive force behind migrations of African peoples. He notes, “The epic came to me one night as a revelation of ideals of quest, courage, perseverance, unity, family; and the sense of the divine, in human struggles with nature and nurture.”
Download or read book Dance of the Jakaranda written by Peter Kimani and published by Akashic Books. This book was released on 2017-02-07 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “This funny, perceptive and ambitious work of historical fiction by a Kenyan poet and novelist explores his country’s colonial past and its legacy.” —The New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice Set in the shadow of Kenya’s independence from Great Britain, Dance of the Jakaranda reimagines the special circumstances that brought black, brown and white men together to lay the railroad that heralded the birth of the nation. The novel traces the lives and loves of three men—preacher Richard Turnbull, the colonial administrator Ian McDonald, and Indian technician Babu Salim—whose lives intersect when they are implicated in the controversial birth of a child. Years later, when Babu’s grandson Rajan—who ekes out a living by singing Babu’s epic tales of the railway’s construction—accidentally kisses a mysterious stranger in a dark nightclub, the encounter provides the spark to illuminate the three men’s shared, murky past. With its riveting multiracial, multicultural cast and diverse literary allusions, Dance of the Jakaranda could well be a story of globalization. Yet the novel is firmly anchored in the African oral storytelling tradition, its language a dreamy, exalted, and earthy mix that creates new thresholds of identity, providing a fresh metaphor for race in contemporary Africa. “Destined to become one of the greats . . . This is not hyperbole: it’s a masterpiece.” —The Gazette “A fascinating part of Kenya’s history, real and imagined, is revealed and reclaimed by one of its own.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune “Kimani’s novel has an impressive breadth and scope.” —Los Angeles Review of Books “Highlighted by its exquisite voice, Kimani’s novel is a standout debut.” —Publishers Weekly “Lyrical and powerful.” —Kirkus Reviews
Download or read book Mau Mau From Within written by Karari Njama and published by . This book was released on 2021-01-16 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mau Mau from Within is told by Karari Njama, a school teacher who was directly involved in the struggles for freedom from colonial rule, to anthropologist Donald L Barnett. As the late Basil Davidson put it: "Njama writes of the forest leaders' efforts to overcome dissension, to evolve effective tactics, to keep discipline (including sexual discipline) and mete out justice ... His narrative is crowded with excitement. Those who know much of Africa and those who know little will alike find it compulsive reading. Some 10,000 Africans died fighting in those years . Here, in the harsh detail of everyday experience, are the reasons why." Originally published as Mau Mau From Within: An analysis of Kenya's Peasant Revolt, it is a story of courage, passion, heroism, combined with recounting of colonial terror, brutality and betrayal. Far from being just an analysis of a peasant revolt, this is the inside story of the struggles of Kenya's Land and Freedom Army told from within by a person who worked closely with Dedan Kimathi. This new expanded edition includes new commentary by Karari Njama, and contributions from Ngugi wa Thiong'o, Micere Githae Mugo as well as a statement from Gitu Wa Kahengeri, Secretary General of the Mau Mau War Veterans Association.
Download or read book Victory written by Joseph Conrad and published by . This book was released on 1924 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Mama Panya s Pancakes written by Mary Chamberlin and published by Barefoot Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mama Panya is alarmed at the market when her son Adika invites all of their friends to come over for pancakes. However will she feed them all? This clever and heart-warming story about village life teaches children the benefits of sharing as well as introducing simple Swahili phrases.
Download or read book Wild Tales from the Wild written by Saad Bin Jung and published by Roli Books Private Limited. This book was released on 2011-04-06 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the weary urban dweller, the verdant Mangala valley near the Bandipur National Park in Karnataka,; would seem like a haven of peace and tranquility. Appearances could not be more deceptive, as Saad Bin Jung discovered after forsaking his life in the city for a stone cottage in the valley. If the surrounding jungles were teeming with wildlife of every variety, the life that the human of the area led was no less wild. Here, he recounts the adventures that he had with some of them: the leopard who moved into 'bison cottage', the dining hall cobra, the magnificent Mangala tiger, Torn Ears, the most-photographed gaur of his time, and the elephants whom he loved with a passion, Colonel Hathi, Jayaprakash and even the Rightchipped Tusker with his bullying ways, amongst them. Not to be outdone were the members of the Kuruba tribe and other humans - Mr B, the family expert, the elderly manager with a raging libido, the gorgeous foreign girls who almost saw him booted out of the family - who came to share his life at Bush Betta, the wildlife resort that he set up in 1991. Hair-raising and hilarious, these are stories that anyone who has had a taste of the wild, or wished that they could, will enjoy, as much for their drama and comedy as for the many fascinating insights into animal behaviour that they provide. No less compelling is the message between the lines, the grandeur and beauty of India's forests, and the need to preserve them at all costs.
Download or read book Re Think written by Nigel May Barlow and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2006-07-06 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What does it take to re-think anything in your life? Sometimes nothing short of turning your whole world upside down. Slow down your thinking for a moment. What is your brain doing? Almost certainly trying to come up with a single right answer because then you can stop thinking about the problem. All too often we are not really thinking, but sleepwalking through life. Fresh angles on familiar problems elude us. Re-thinking is the opposite: it means seeing better or different solutions. In other words, thinking as unusual. Rethink shows you why and how. What if today you were to . . . Buy a new newspaper? Take a different route home? Say ‘yes’ to everything your partner asks? Invent new rituals for your family? Surround yourself with beauty? Try a first take at the creative fantasy sleeping in the attic of your mind? Find a new hero? Discover more about your upbringing? Act as if anything were possible rather than yes-butting the new? You’d be a re-thinker. Why not? There’s always a better or different solution to the way you lead your personal or professional life. Rethink will help you to stop living on autopilot and reawaken your sense of wonder, curiosity, and creativity.
