'Probably more people think they know more about the Mau Mau war in the British colony of Kenya than about any other event in African history. Daniel Branch shows how wrong we all were. Mau Mau was not a war of heroic simplicity between noble nationalists and cruel colonialists. It was more complicated than that. Rebels and loyalists shared the same values, knew each other intimately, and were indeed often the same people in different contexts. And the loyalists not only won the war but were the more effective nationalists. Mau Mau was controversial enough before Branch came along. It is even more so now. This book is essential reading for any serious student of modern African history.' John Lonsdale, Trinity College, University of Cambridge 'Defeating Mau Mau, Creating Kenya makes a radical departure from all previous accounts of the Mau Mau insurrection. It makes comprehensible the part played by the Loyalists, those of the Kikuyu who enlisted the British and took the initiative in defeating the Mau Mau insurgents in what gradually became a civil war. It is clearly written and powerfully argued. It is destined to become a classic.' Wm. Roger Louis, University of Texas at Austin Probably more people think they know more about the Mau Mau war in the British colony of Kenya than about any other event in African history. Daniel Branch shows how wrong we all were. Mau Mau was not a war of heroic simplicity between noble nationalists and cruel colonialists. It was more complicated than that. Rebels and loyalists shared the same values, knew each other intimately, and were indeed often the same people in different contexts. And the loyalists not only won the war but were the more effective nationalists. Mau Mau was controversial enough before Branch came along. It is even more so now. This book is essential reading for any serious student of modern African history. - John Lonsdale, Trinity College, University of Cambridge Defeating Mau Mau, Creating Kenya makes a radical departure from all previous accounts of the Mau Mau insurrection. It makes comprehensible the part played by the Loyalists, those of the Kikuyu who enlisted the British and took the initiative in defeating the Mau Mau insurgents in what gradually became a civil war. It is clearly written and powerfully argued. It is destined to become a classic. - Wm. Roger Louis, University of Texas at Austin Because of its long overdue approach, the book contains a fuller and more fully contextualized analysis of the anticolonial war in Kenya that has been developed previously. No scholar has heretofore tried to understand the dynamics of the indigenous anti-Mau Mau informants and campaigners. No one has so ably explained the complex personal and intra-ethnic motivations behind those who chose to refuse oaths and risked their lives to oppose Mau Mau.... Highly recommended. - Choice A brilliant, exciting, and elegantly written new study...it is a masterful study. - Susanne D. Mueller, Harvard University, International Journal of African Historical Studies The book's main strengths lie in the author's effort to relate an overarching historical episode to the ongoing national debate about nation-building in Kenya.... This book has carved itself a place in the annals of the history of Mau Mau and Kenya. - Martin Shanguhyia, The College of William and Mary, H-Africa