Publisher: The Mau Mau Research Center, Kenya
Dedan Kĩmathi Speaks
We will Fight to the Last Gun
Extensive archives belonging to the Mau Mau
were long held by the British and were not made available widely. This
book, written by one of the foremost researchers on the Mau Mau, is a
result of years of village-level research which also recovered some of
the movements most important papers. Translated into English, they
clarify the movement’s own perspectives on their struggle and it’s
difficulties, the relatively advanced nature of their goals as a
national liberation movement, and their radical vision of a liberated
Kenyan society.
Dedan Kimathi became President of the Mau Mau’s
ruling body in August 1953, and remained as its overall leader until his
capture and execution by the British two years later. During his time
as president he ordered the movement to keep documentation for the
purposes of providing, as he put it “concrete evidence that we fought
and died for this land.” This book is an important contribution to
Kenyan history and the history of liberation movements around the world.
£33.00
About the author
Maina wa Kĩnyattĩ is a Kenyan Marxist historian and former political prisoner under Daniel arap Moi’s dictatorship. He is widely considered the foremost researcher on the Mau Mau in Kenya, one of the primary reasons that Kinyatti was arrested and imprisoned.
After being released from prison on 17 October 1988 (after serving six
and a half years, mostly in solitary confinement), he fled the country
to Tanzania, fearing a re-arrest by Moi’s government. After a month in
Dar es Salaam, Kinyatti was forced to apply for political asylum in the
US. Kinyatti was awarded the PEN Freedom to Write Award in 1988.
