The British captured extensive archives belonging to the Mau Mau, which to this day have not been made public. Here for the first time, as a result of years of village – level research, historian Maina wa Kinyatti has recovered some of the movement’s – and its leader, Dedan Kimathi’s – most important papers. Translated in to English, they make startlingly clear movement’s own perspectives on their struggle and its difficulties, the relatively advanced nature of their goals as a national liberation movement, and their radical visions of a liberated Kenyan society. Dedan Kimathi became President of Mau Mau’s ruling body in August 1953 and remained its overall head until his capture and death two years later. He ordered the movement to keep documentation for the purpose of providing, as he put it, ‘concentrate evidence that we fought and died for this land’. By recovering some of this material, Maina wa Kinyatti has done Kenyan history a signal service.
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