Histories of the Hanged
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Product Description
Review
...What might have been a dry description of legal proceedings becomes instead a compelling account of the great horror story of Britain's empire. (SUNDAY TIMES )
Anderson gives a shocking account of the conflict that eventually led to Kenya's independence in 1963. (HAM & HIGH )
Anderson gives a shocking account of the conflict that eventually led to Kenya's independence in 1963. (HAM & HIGH )
Book Description
The true story of the Mau Mau rebellion of 1952-60 in Kenya, told for the first time
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I wish to take issue with Bwana Bunduki. Anderson's book was about more than the use of law in counter-insurgency. It detailed, as few other books have done, the extraordinary complexity of the Kenya crisis, with deep insight into what divided the Kikuyu people. It went on to analyse the great divisions on the British side, between senior judges and senior policemen, and generals, on the one hand, most of whom tried to uphold the laws of war and, on the other, magistrates, members of the security forces and, perhaps above all, the Provincial Administration who judged that loyalty to their Kikuyu allies required that the former avert their eyes from, and connive in the cover-ups, of the misdeeds of the latter. While Anderson is unsparing in his criticism, he is also deeply compassionate towards the victims of both Mau Mau and of British counter-insurgency, conscious of the historian's duty to understand, and sympathise with the conflicting demands of the past, as much as to pass judgment. The judgments he arrives at are, very properly, largely from the mouths of British actors at the time.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
For those interested in the historical and social processes through which the law becomes the condition of possibility for the extreme persecution not only of political adversaries but of entire categories of citizens, read "Histories of the Hanged." Anderson has provided a careful interrogation of the colonial legal record that seriously undermines any easy claim to the legitimacy of systematic and lethal state force carried out in the name of the law.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a powerful, revelatory and balanced account of the Mau Mau rebellion and the British response to it. Because Anderson's conclusions are grounded in documentary evidence produced by the colonial authorities, his criticisms of the counter-insurgency campaign carry much weight. Well-written and incisive, Anderson treats all of his subjects judiciously and in an even-handed manner. This book is undeserving of the misguided criticisms made of it by Bwana Bunduki below. This is a fine example of historical scholarship at its very best.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
An imporant read
Anderson's 'Histories of The Hanged' is captivating. It details a part of Kenyan history which has until recently been overlooked and misunderstood, and is therefore a vital read. Read more
Published on 23 Jun 2007 by Aly Salman Alibhai
Histories of the Hanged
David Anderson's 'Histories of the Hanged' offers what most other narratives of this period have failed to do: a highly complex, balanced, and rigorously documented account of Mau... Read more
Published on 21 Jun 2007 by Michael Jennings
At least it is better than Elkins
This is a somewhat more subdued and reasoned account of the Kenya Emergency that Elkins' "Britains Gulag". Read more
Published on 9 Jan 2007 by Bwana Bunduki
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