Robert Ruark (1915–1965)

This book is well written, but I would not recommend it unless a person is really interested in the Mau Mau uprising. Much detail is given to provide the reader a picture of Kenya, and the dynamics between the British and African peoples, and even between the various tribes themselves. Rightfully so, and necessary; but for me the interest was not that great - I expected more action, I suppose, but that is not the author's fault.

Again, well written, but I got a lot of the background from Ruark's "Horn of the Hunter" which I read previously. It was what led me to this book, and I would recommend it.… (more)

This book seems to be a novel set in Washington DC, and a fictional, thinly disguised Kenya. The story starts in the period of British Mau Mau conflict, and moves to the present times circa 1958. There are characters who hope to mange the new country so that it remains in the "Western" camp in the Cold War, and of course relative neutrals and a few of a more sinister Communist alignment. There is a conventional (for the times) love story, and in the end, the fate of the new player is left to the imagination. In the result of the reader's experience there is little intrinsically "African" about this story, but it would be comfortable for American readers not too heavily informed on the points of colonialism.… (more)