Books Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya Book by Caroline Elkins

"Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya" by Caroline Elkins, also published as "Imperial Reckoning: The Untold Story of Britain's Gulag in Kenya," is a groundbreaking historical investigation into the British colonial repression during the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya (1952-1960).

Elkins reveals how, in response to the rebellion by the Kikuyu people, the British colonial government detained close to one and a half million Kikuyu in a vast system of detention camps and villages. These camps were places of extreme brutality, fear, hunger, torture, and death. Elkins documents firsthand survivor accounts of physical and psychological abuse, including beating, burning, electric shock, rape, castration, and more.

The book exposes the British government’s deliberate cover-up efforts, including the destruction of official records and attempts to hide the atrocities from the public and history. It also highlights widespread miscarriage of justice, rigged trials, and the systemic denial of basic human rights to the Kikuyu people.

Based on extensive archival research and hundreds of interviews with survivors and perpetrators alike, "Britain’s Gulag" is a searing indictment of colonial cruelty and suppression. It is a pivotal work that uncovers the harsh realities underpinning British decolonization in Kenya, linking this history to broader themes of imperial violence and the struggle for justice and memory.