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The recommended reading is available through Amazon
History of Kenya
 | Africa Calling: A Medical Missionary in Kenya and Zambia By John W. Gerrard The "missionary factor" is a vital element in modern African history. Christian missionaries in medicine and education have contributed greatly to African advancement-many outstanding African leaders are the products of mission schools-but were the missions the agents of a distorting western imperialism? Based on the letters and contemporary records of Herbert Gerrard and his wife Doris, this book leaves readers to judge for themselves. It shows the practice of medicine in the most difficult conditions and by a dedicated doctor on trek. |
 | African Ceremonies By Carol Beckwith, Angela Fisher Culled form Abrams' magnificent book African Ceremonies by acclaimed photo-documentarians Carol Beckwith and Angela Fisher, these 26 wondrous photographs explore traditional African rites and rituals. Spanning the continent, Beckwith and Fisher open our eyes to scores of exotic and wondrous ceremonies-baby namings, initiations, weddings, harvest blessings, coronations, healing exorcisms, and funerals, among others. Many of these rituals will never be performed again; few have been pictured and described with the intimacy, knowledge, and skill of Beckwith and Fisher. |
 | Colonial Inscriptions: Race, Sex, and Class in Kenya By Carolyn Martin Shaw An important analysis of colonial Kenya in which Africa has shaped its white folks as well as the other way round… It’s a fine read and a wonderful reread of Leakey, Kenyatta and colonial ethnography. In the Kenya colonial imaginary, the Kikuyu were constructed as deceitful effeminate servants while Maasais were romanticized as noble savages, colonial inscriptions examines how all these representations of the Maasai and the Kikuyu aided the colonial project. |
 | Economic and Social Origins of Mau Mau, 1944-52 By David W. Throup This story of Kenya in the decade before the outbreak of the Mau Mau emergency presents an integrated view of an imperial government as well as examining the social and the economic causes of the Kikuyu revolt. Dr.Throup combines traditional imperial history with its emphasis on the high politics of “the official mind” in the colonial office or in the Government House with the new African historiography, which concentrates on the people themselves. |
 | Facing Mount Kenya By Jomo Kenyatta A most detailed and reliable account on Kikuyu heritage, customs and way of life. Jomo Kenyatta provides a detailed insider description of the Kikuyu peoples of Kenya. The book takes a structural functionalist approach to anthropology, providing a very detailed description covering virtually all aspects of tribal life. A native Kikuyu, son of a medicine man, Kenyatta reveals his wonderful anthropological ability in a storybook fashion. A must read for anyone interested in learning about African culture. |
 | Kenya Cowboy By Peter Hewitt This book by a former colonial police officer at the time of the uprising offers a balanced assessment of the implications of Mau Mau, as well as a vivid, and often shocking reconstruction of events. Peter Hewitt entered the Colonial Police Service after his military duty was completed. This career move took him to Kenya, where his experiences inspired this book. He also saw tours in Cyprus and Nyasaland, as well as many foreign diplomatic postings. |
 | Kenyan Running: Movement Culture, Geography and Global Change By John Bale, Joe Sang This book is a must read for anybody that is interested in running. Everyone always wonders why the Kenyans are such good runners? This detailed, and interesting, book allows you to learn and understand the people of Kenya, and also why they are such good runners. Throughout their turbulent history it seems as though games, or sporting events, have been an important part of their culture. Because of their deep-rooted cultural activities, as well as the colonial influence from the British, the Kenyans have been able to excel at events that revolve around running. Bale and Sang bring fourth a lot of information that allows you to learn about running in Kenya, and also the impact the Kenyans have had on runners around the world yesterday, today, and into the future. |
 | Maasai By Tepilit Ole Saitoti, Carol Beckwith (Photographer) This is a (not surprisingly) beautiful and very accurate portrayal of Maasai life. It was written by Teplit Ole Saitoti, himself a Maasai straddling a modern lifestyle, with that of an elder in his home village. Carol Beckwith is one of the most sensitive and talented "human anthropology" photographers the world has ever known. She gets photos no one else can, by living the villagers' lifestyles. The result of the collaboration is the view of Maasai life from within. |
 | Maasai (Heritage Library of African Peoples. East Africa) By Tiyambe Zeleza Four of eastern Africa's peoples are presented along with details about their traditional societies, their customs and rituals, and their contact with Europeans. Illustrated with fascinating but poorly reproduced black-and-white and color photographs, each title contains valuable information about these Africans whose unique characteristics put them among the most fascinating groups of their continent. |
 | Mau Mau and Kenya: An Analysis of a Peasant Revolt By Wunyabari O. Maloba Maloba (history, Univ. of Delaware) has produced a scholarly study of the Mau Mau revolt in Kenya in the 1950s. While much has been written about Mau Mau over the years, those works have been more narrowly focused; Maloba's study differs in that it gives greater weight to the importance of nationalism as a factor in this revolt. While he compares and contrasts Mau Mau with other such peasant revolts, he also seeks to produce a systematic and comprehensive analysis of Mau Mau, including its political, economic, social, ideological, and military dimensions, from its inception down to its significance in postcolonial Kenya. |
 | Mombasa, the Swahili, and the Making of the Mijikenda By Justin Willis This is a history of the Kenyan city of Mombasa and its surrounding settlements from the mid-nineteenth century to the height of colonial rule in the 1930s. Justin Willis sets out to place the island and town of Mombasa in its African context, incorporating the findings of recent historical and anthropological research. Willis examines the institutions and social networks, which simultaneously united and divided the people of the region before the colonial period, demonstrating both their interdependence and the creation of distinct population categories. |
 | The World of the Swahili: An African Mercantile Civilization By John Middleton In this book a leading Africanist presents the first full-length anthropological account of the Swahili and offers an original analysis of their little-understood and unusual culture. Drawing on his own field research and on earlier writings on the Swahili, Middleton describes this centuries-old mercantile culture-its local and descent groupings, marriage patterns, religion, and values-and shows how their sense of their unique identity enables them to persist as an ongoing civilization despite many years of colonization. |
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