The History Book Club discussion

This is the place to discuss Jomo Kenyatta.

Jomo Kenyatta (c. 1894 – 22 August 1978) served as the first Prime Minister (1963–1964) and President (1964–1978) of Kenya. He is considered the founding father of the Kenyan nation.

In Kenya, Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi's main street and main streets in many cities and towns, numerous schools, two Universities (Kenyatta University and Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology), the country's main referral hospital, markets, and housing estates are named after Jomo Kenyatta.

A statue in downtown Nairobi and monuments all over Kenya stand in his honour. Kenya observes a public holiday every 20 October in his honour. His face adorns Kenyan currency notes and coins of all denominations.

Source: Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jomo_Ken...



Jomo_Kenyatta - 22 February 1966

Kate, one of our group members suggested this thread.

Facing Mount Kenya

by Jomo Kenyatta (no photo)

Synopsis:

Facing Mount Kenya An eminent scholar and nationalistic leader presents a study of African tribal life as represented in his own Kikuyu society

Very good

African Political Leadership: Jomo Kenyatta, Kwame Nkrumah, and Julius Nyerere

by A.B. Assensoh(no photo)

Synopsis:

In African politics, Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta, Tanzania's Julius Nyere, and Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah were known for their early radical and socialistic political stance. This text analyzes their nationalistic-cum-Pan Africanist and overall political contributions to African history.

Kenyatta and Britain: An Account of Political Transformation, 1929-1963

by Wunyabari O Maloba (no photo)

Synopsis:

This book is the first systematic political history of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s founding president. The first of two parts, it explores Kenyatta’s formative years in nationalist activism in Kenya and Britain, the complex links between colonial and British intelligence services and Kenyatta’s career and the political compromise he forged between Kenya and Britain. This book draws on primary sources to analyze this compromise, which marked his transformation from "leader to darkness and death" to the most beloved post-colonial African leader in the West.

Thank you so much Michele for your add

An upcoming book:
Release date: January 31, 2020

Power and the Presidency in Kenya: The Jomo Kenyatta Years

by Anais Angelo (no photo)

Synopsis:

In December 1963, Kenya formally declared its independence yet it would take a year of intense negotiations for it to transform into a presidential republic, with Jomo Kenyatta as its first president. Archival records of the independence negotiations, however, reveal that neither the British colonial authorities, nor the Kenyan political elite foresaw the formation of a presidential regime that granted one man almost limitless executive powers. Even fewer expected Jomo Kenyatta to remain president until his death in 1978.

Power and the Presidency reconstructs Kenyatta's political biography, exploring the links between his ability to emerge as an uncontested leader and the deeper colonial and postcolonial history of the country. In describing Kenyatta's presidential style as discreet and distant, Anaïs Angelo shows how the burning issues of land decolonisation, the increasing centralisation of executive powers and the repression of political oppositions shaped Kenyatta's politics. Telling the story of state building through political biography, Angelo reveals how historical contingency and structural developments shaped both a man and an institution - the president and the presidency.

That looks very interesting Jerome.