Product Description

Something of Value is a novel based on events that took place in Kenya Colony during the violent Mau Mau insurrection of the 1950s, an uprising that was confined almost exclusively to members of the Kikuyu tribe. It is a powerful, gripping, and sometimes shocking novel that presents an enlightening glimpse into the lives of all sections of the population in Colonial Kenya fifty years ago.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73663 in Books
• Published on: 2009-08-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 566 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781571572806
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Customer Reviews

The best true life horor story I ever read and so much more
I spent three of the most impressionable years of my live in Kenya in the early '70's as a State Department dependant. Even then, the Mau Mau uprising had a strong influence on day to day life in Kenya. Gun control laws were among the most strict in the world and for good reason. During my three years in Kenya I heard many stories from people who lived through the emergency. Most of these stories made Stephen King novels sound like childrens' tales. I could not count the times I've read both Uhuru and Something Of Value and each time they have taken me back in time to the Norfolk or New Stanley hotel. Everything about the book, from the safaris, to the uprising, are totally authentic. While this is not a "feel good" book, anyone who has a interest in East African history, or just wants to read on of the great books of this century MUST read this book. Even though this is a book of fiction, it should be required reading for anyone studying the history of Kenya. Make no mistake, most of the things written about in this book, no matter how disturbing, actually happened.

Psychological Assessment disguised as fiction
I first read this book as a teen ager in the 1960's, and I've probably read it eight or nine times since then. This book introduced me to Robert Ruark and started my life-long appreciation of his works. Something of Value examines clash of civilization between the British settlers and the Kikuyu natives in Kenya after WWII during what became the Mau Mau Rebellion. It examines the causes and consequences of the conflict and how it affected both sides. As I became older, I began to understand the motivations of the characters and their actions. With each rereading, the book changed. It was not only a safari adventure story, but it was also a snapshot of history, a study of human psychology, and a search for recognition and justice. I know I'm paraphrasing, but the opening Bantu proverb, "If you do away with the traditions of the past, then you must first replace them with Something of Value" definitely and perfectly describes the book. When Ruark wrote about the conflict, he examined how people on both sides were torn from what they knew and had cherished in the past and were thrown unprepared into the future. He examines foreign and unfamiliar ideology, how it affects us, and what its consequences are. Finally, despite the cruelty, blood, and horror in the book, he examines the nobility of human beings and what it means to us. This book has changed the way I view the world because I now can appreciate both the view of the fox and the hound. If great writing enables us to finds new and deeper meaning with each rereading, then "Something of Value" is great literature.

Epic story of life during Mau Mau
When it was first published in 1955 "Something of Value" was a novel right out of the headlines, set in contemporary Kenya during the time of the Mau Mau rebellion which were the last years of British colonial rule. Now it has aged into an historical novel. The largest part of the novel concerns two men, once childhood friends: Kimani, a Kenyan Kikuyu, and Peter, a British settler. They grow up together on a farm in the "white highlands", Kimani is the son of a farmhand, Peter the son of the owner. They imagine themselves working together as adults, as gunbearer and white hunter, guiding tourists on hunting safaris. Instead they become adversaries during the Mau Mau. Ruark tells a good story though the book is a bit long in places. Throughout the novel, the depictions of both African and British characters is remarkably balanced and fair. Ruark is one of the few white writers of the 1950s to provide a sympathetic and (apparently) informed view of African (particularly Kikuyu) culture. It is the clash of Kikuyu and British cultures, as British law is applied to traditional Kikuyu custom that is the impetus for Kimani to join the rebellion. It would be interesting to know if all of the novel's details of the Mau Mau oaths are accurate. The female characters are a bit one dimensional; this is a book about hunting, warfare, and the world as seen by men. Overall, a very good book, especially for anyone interested in Kenya and the end of colonialism. ("Something of Value" was made into a movie starring Rock Hudson and Sidney Poitier.)