The Life and Times of General China

No episode in African history is more controversial than the Mau Mau Uprising, and within it, no figure more polarizing than Waruhiu Itote, or “General China.” China led Mau Mau guerrillas in a daring struggle against the British colonial government and its “loyalist” allies in Kenya during the 1950s, but he was spared the gallows because he turned government informant. China was a “collaborator” to his enemies but a “hero” to his supporters: they interpreted his change of heart as motivated by a desire to end the conflict and save lives and venerated China’s wholehearted service to the independent nation of Kenya after 1963. The Life and Times of General China delves into the mind of this fascinating, complex, and ambiguous character. It brings together a rich collection of sources: an abridged version of China’s famous memoir “Mau Mau” General; the typescripts of China’s interrogation and trial at British hands; his 1993 eulogy by former district officer John Nottingham; and more. For the first time, readers can analyze the motivations of one of Africa’s most enthralling figures — a man who inspired the late Nelson Mandela to say that he was “influenced by the life and example of General China.”