One thing that stands out here is that many of you are reading really old books!
If you like that, find Robert C. Ruark's novels set in Kenya, like, "Something of Value" and,"Uhuru". Good gun stuff and wonderful character studies and the best honest account of African politics and the Mau-Mau terrorism that you'll find anywhere. Some of what you'll learn about Kikuyu tribal beliefs and traditional acitons will appall you. Can you imagine midwives strangling a newborn child just because the shadow of a vulture passed over the birth hut? Or because a child was born feet-first, thus causing a "thahu"(curse) to occur on that family?
The British colonial authorities tried hard to bring these people into the 20th Century, and treated such actions as murder, baffling the Kikuyu, who simply did not think like Europeans. This was among the causes of the Mau-Mau Emergency, as Kenyatta and others used that and other actions by the colonials to bring a terrible insurgency into being , the motive of which was to get the British out of Kenya and Joseph Kenyatta into power.
The humor is sometimes a bit grim. One cop torturing a terrorist by caning his feet quipped, "Confession is good for the soles."
Ruark's background data was authentic, coming from various acquaintances in the police, the Kenya Regiment, the King's African Rifles, and a number of private citizens involved in fighting Mau-Mau. Some knew the Kikuyu very well, a few even speaking their language and being familiar with their tribal beliefs. (Mau-Mau was largely limited to this tribe and a few similar ones, the more warlike Masai and Nandi resisting efforts by Mau-Mau recruiters.)
Although Ruark was understandably on the side of the white settlers, he was fair in stating the viewpoints of both sides and examining their reasons for being as they were.
Many libraries may still have these books, and some used book stores might. They were published in the 1950's and about 1960. Robt. Ruark made African safaris come alive as few have done. He made several such trips, and also had a big tiger rug on his wall in one photo. Don't know if he ever hunted tigers when that was legal.
Ruark also wrote a national newspaper column that helped to make him famous, and was Travel Editor at, "Playboy" on his death in 1965. That magazine published a wonderful article on safari hunting just a few months before he left us. It had some really great equipment photos, too.
But while I was initially attracted to Russell's Birdshooter boots on Ruark's recommenation, I later formed reservations about them for some uses. Most of his other recommendations remain valid, although he learned not to use the .220 Swift on animals of any real size. Even a hyena deserves better than a bullet that blows up without adequate penetration.
On the other hand, his fictional white hunter, Peter McKenzie, probably based on the real life Harry Selby, once shot a terrorist with a .416 Rigby. Curious about the effect of a .416 on a human, Peter walked over and looked at the body. "I think I'm using too much gun," he concluded, as the effect of a .416 on a human was "considerable". I think he switched to a .35 Marlin for a rifle when hunting terrorists. But he and others noted the effect that military and Mau-Mau operations had on the forest animals in the Aberdare Mountains.This was especally bad after the RAF BOMBED the jungle! Probably didn't kill many Mau-Mau, but certainly upset the animals. And a .416 was more appropriate for some of them than was a .35 Remington in a Marlin carbine!
Also especially recommended, if you can find it: "Man Hunt in Kenya", by Inspector Ian Henderson, GM. This is the story of how Henderson and others turned terrorists against their former leaders and stalked the particularly bloody terrorist Dedan Kimathi. He was eventually captured and hanged, too merciful a death for someone who had done the dreadful things that Kimathi had.
I caution that some of the detail from Mau-Mau oathing ceremonies may cause you to vomit. But it will leave you with a fuller appreciation of what was happening then, and why. Every liberal American journalist then should have been forced to read these books, to understand what was really behind Mau-Mau and for which reasons. I think it might have changed the nature of their propaganda designed to advance, "Uhuru" for a people not ready to self govern.
