Imperial Reckoning Explained

Imperial Reckoning
Author:	Caroline Elkins
Publisher:	Henry Holt
Pub Date:	2005
Isbn:	0-8050-8001-5

Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya, published in the UK as Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya, is a 2005 non-fiction book written by Caroline Elkins and published by Henry Holt. It won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction.^[1]

Overview

The book describes how, after Operation Anvil, the British colonial government in Kenya turned increasingly to mass detention as a means to suppress the Mau Mau Uprising. Elkins details the establishment and running of the detention camps, the torture and abuse that took place there, and the attempts by the British to destroy records on the eve of Kenya's independence, after having covered up such incidents as the Hola massacre.^[2]

This book was also released under the title Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya, published by Jonathan Cape in 2005.^{[3] [4] [5]}

Bibliography

Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya, Henry Holt/Jonathan Cape, 2005,

Further reading

• News: Cobain, Ian; Norton-Taylor, Richard. Mau Mau massacre cover-up detailed in newly-opened secret files. . 29 November 2012.
• Anderson, D.M. (2015). ″Guilty Secrets: Deceit, Denial, and the Discovery of Kenya’s ‘Migrated Archive’″. History Workshop Journal 80, 142–160.
• Parry Marc. Uncovering the brutal truth about the British empire (18 August 2016), The Guardian.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Pulitzer Prize Winners: General Non-Fiction . pulitzer.org . 2008-03-16.
2. Jackson . Kennel . Review . The International Journal of African Historical Studies . 2006 . 39 . 1 . 158–160 . 40034012 . 28 September 2021.
3. News: Dowden. Richard. State of shame. The Guardian. 4 February 2005.
4. News: Howe. Stephen. Britain's Gulag: the brutal end of empire in Kenya by Caroline Elkins [and] Histories of the Hanged by David Anderson]. The Independent. 21 January 2005.
5. Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya . Journal of Pan African Studies . November 2007 . 1 . 10 . 152–156 . Brandabur . A. Clare .