Imperial Reckoning

The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya

De: Caroline Elkins

Narrado por: Teri Schnaubelt

As part of the Allied forces, thousands of Kenyans fought alongside the British in World War II. But just a few years after the defeat of Hitler, the British colonial government detained nearly the entire population of Kenya's largest ethnic minority, the Kikuyu—some one and a half million people.

The compelling story of the system of prisons and work camps where thousands met their deaths has remained largely untold—the victim of a determined effort by the British to destroy all official records of their attempts to stop the Mau Mau uprising, the Kikuyu people's ultimately successful bid for Kenyan independence.

Caroline Elkins, an assistant professor of history at Harvard University, spent a decade in London, Nairobi, and the Kenyan countryside interviewing hundreds of Kikuyu men and women who survived the British camps, as well as the British and African loyalists who detained them.

The result is an unforgettable account of the unraveling of the British colonial empire in Kenya—a pivotal moment in twentieth-century history with chilling parallels to America's own imperial project.

Imperial Reckoning is the winner of the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction.

©2005 Caroline Elkins (P)2023 Tantor

It’s so discouraging how the British treated theKenyons, particularly after what they had gone through in World War II.

The narrator read clearly and well, except much more research should have been done regarding the pronunciation of many of the Swahili and other Kenyan words because many were mispronounced.

Poor pronunciation of names and places

I found it offensive that little research was done to be sure that proper names and places were pronounced correctly. The names of detainees and the camps where they were imprisoned were butchered. Hardly did the narrator get one name right. How did this blatant disregard occur, when the author spent years through intense research to get the facts straight! Out of respect for those detainees who died in the camps, greater justice and dignity will be served if this audio book is removed from the library and we just resort to reading the book with no distraction.