TRAPPED IN HISTORY, Kenya, Mau Mau and me

560pp., illus., maps, paperback, Reprint, Faber, London, (2023) 2024

ISBN: 9780571307760

A memoir of growing up in colonial Kenya in the 1950s and early 1960s as well as a history of the rise of African nationalism under Jomo Kenyatta and the Mau Mau movement.

"In attempting to interrogate his privilege and divest himself of it, Rankin enters the territory of shameful histories mapped out by contemporaries such as Alex Renton in Blood Legacy and Rian Malan in My Traitor’s Heart. Such books seem marked by the authors’ determination to, in the words of the historian Peter Fryer, “think black”, and embark on an empathic journey towards self-abrogating enlightenment. In Trapped in History, Rankin frees himself, and perhaps readers, in curating a porous narrative that serves as an unforgettable distillation of Britain and Kenya’s complex and contentious shared history." Colin Grant, The Guardian

"This gripping book pokes the puff adder of once sunny, now poisonous, boyhood memories of colonial Kenya to create an astonishingly up-to-date and well-read history in which both African 'natives' and British 'imperialists', stereotyped by others, are fully realised human beings. Readers who think they know Kenya's history will find themselves often jolted into fresh insight. Those who know no Kenyan history will not be able to tear themselves away from this self-searching exorcism of empire." John M. Lonsdale, Emeritus Professor, Centre of African Studies and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge

Nicholas Rankin worked for the BBC World Service for 20 years, becoming Chief Producer and winning two UN awards. His books include Dead Man's Chest, Telegram from Guernica, Churchill’s Wizards, Ian Fleming’s Commandos and Defending the Rock. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and lives in London and Kent.