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Britain's Gulag

The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya

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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Only a few years after Britain defeated fascism came the Mau Mau uprising in Kenya - a mass armed rebellion by the Kikuyu people, demanding the return of their land and freedom. The draconian response of Britain's colonial government was to detain nearly the entire Kikuyu population of 1.5 million and to portray them as sub-human savages. Detainees in their thousands - possibly a hundred thousand or more - died from exhaustion, disease, starvation and systemic physical brutality. For decades these events remained untold.

Caroline Elkins conducted years of research to piece together this story, unearthing reams of documents and interviewing several hundred Kikuyu survivors. Britain's Gulag reveals, for the first time, the full savagery of the Mau Mau war and the ruthless determination with which Britain sought to control its empire.

© Caroline Elkins 2005 (P) Penguin Audio 2024

 20th Century Africa Colonialism & Post-Colonialism Europe Great Britain Modern Politics & Government War

Critic reviews

A tale of systematic violence and high-level cover-ups
Caroline Elkins has starkly illuminated one of the darkest secrets of late British imperialism. She has shown how, even when they profess the most altruistic of intentions, empires can still be brutal in their response to dissent by subject peoples. We all need reminding of that today (Niall Ferguson)
Given the number and nature of the atrocities that filled the 20th century, the degree of brutality and violence perpetrated by British settlers, police, army and their African loyalist supporters against the Kikuyu during the Mau Mau period should not be surprising. Nor, perhaps, the fact that the British government turned a blind eye, and later covered them up. What is surprising, however, is that it has taken so long to document the whole ghastly story-this is what makes Caroline Elkins's disturbing and horrifying account so important and memorable (Caroline Moorehead)
All stars
Most relevant
I was not a fan of how the Narrator narrate the audiobook. However the book is still worth reading as it shows the brutality of British Rule, and how the british were little better than the Nazis. Cannot believe what the british got away with. Hard to believe people are still apologists for this empire

Annoying Narrator however still worth reading

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It's well narrated, properly paced and vividly paints a picture of Kenyas dark colonial past.

A testament to truth.

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This narrative exposes the lie at the heart of Britain’s self-professed civilising mission. Britain’s Gulag lays bare the mother of all cover-ups and state-sponsored deceptions, whilst meting out torture and barbarism on a scale of brutality no less horrifying than that of the Nazi forced labour camps. This is compulsive reading for anyone who still believes the UK’s colonial regime was benign.

The stain on Britain’s colonial past

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Brilliant research, brilliant book. Should be compulsory on every University's History Course. Please buy it.

Essiential reading.

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