Originally published in 1972 and as a second edition in 1979, this widely acclaimed biography of Africa’s first modern statesman tells the story of Kenyatta’s extraordinary and enigmatic career. It is the story of a life punctuated by dramatic twists of fortune which closely reflects Africa’s emergence from colonial rule. In the preparation of this book Jeremy Murray-Brown used a variety of unpublished sources. He pieces together the background of Kenyatta’s childhood as a ‘mission boy’ in the days when Nairobi was a raw frontier settlement; of his way of life as a young ‘de-tribalized’ African in the 1920s; of his role in the controversy regarding female circumcision; his sixteen years in Britain; his visits to Russia between the wars; his trial and long years in a desert prison charged with managing Mau Mau.
The result is a rounded portrait and its objective approach to the enigmas which have surrounded the African leader places him firmly in his historical context. Set against the background of the rise and fall of British colonialism the book also makes an important contribution towards an understanding of the revolutionary forces which have moulded the shape of modern Africa.
This book, originally published in 1977, looks at the history of Africa in the last century. It is presented through the lives of six men, all dedicated to opening up Africa to Christianity. Faith and the Flag is the story of the first contacts between the tribes of Africa and the civilisation of nineteenth-century Europe.
Arvustused
Original review of Faith and the Flag:
[ Murray-Brown] has produced a readable and reliable account of a number of great events; the book can be strongly recommended to all those who want to know something of the process bv which Africa has come to be what it is today Stephen Neil, The Churchman Vol 92, Issue 4.
1.Israels Paths
2. Waste-Howling Wilderness
3. Monarch and Missionary
4. Muscat at Zanzibar
5. Elijah and Elisha
6. Primate of Africa
7. Like Iron
8. Instead of Victory, Truth.
Jeremy Murray-Brown (19322025) worked for many years as a producer on the BBC's Panorama programme. In 1962 he left the BBC to concentrate on his freelance activities as an author and film-maker. His films, among them a number of important historical documentaries, have appeared on television in both the UK and USA. Kenyatta, his book on Kenya's first President, reissued in 2026 by Routledge, is widely regarded as the definitive biography.
