Renowned novelist, poet, playwright, and literary critic Ngugi wa Thiong'o was a
student at a prestigious, British-run boarding school near Nairobi when the tum
ultuous Mau Mau Uprising for independence and Kenyan sovereignty gripped his cou
ntry. While he enjoyed scouting trips and chess tournaments, his family home was
razed to the ground and his brother, a member of the insurgency, was captured b
y the British and taken to a concentration camp. But Ngugi could not escape hist
ory, and eventually found himself jailed after a run in with the forces of colon
ialism.
Ngugi richly and poignantly evokes the experiences that would transfor
m him into a world-class writer and, as a political dissident, a moral compass t
o us all. A winning celebration of the implacable determination of youth and the
power of hope, here is a searing account of the history of a man--and the story
of a nation.
