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This book recently became a 2006 Pulitzer Prize winner in the category of General Non-Fiction.

Fifty years ago British colonialism tried to crush the independence struggle in Kenya. Tens of thousands of Africans were imprisoned and killed with the U.S. government's support. The media slandered Kenya's Land and Freedom Army, commonly known as the Mau Mau.

The product of ten years of research,Imperial Reckoning vividly describes how as many as 320,000 Mau Mau suspects were tortured in more than 50 concentration camps. Virtually the entire Kikuyu people, 1.5 million, were imprisoned in "protected villages." Harrowing accounts of life behind the barb wire are given by survivors in this book.

Elkins, a Harvard history professor, along with Kenya archivist Terry Wairimu, interviewed 300 former detainees and villagers. Their testimony tells the courage of those who refused to submit to the occupier.

Historical photos, Notes, Bibliography and Index

Henry Holt, 2005, Softcover, 367pp

Available at: http://www.leftbooks.com/