Something of Value

American author Robert Ruark’s novel Something of Value (1955) chronicles the story of two men caught on either side of the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya, during which the Kenya Land and Freedom Army fought against British colonists in an effort to gain independence from the United Kingdom. The novel draws on Ruark's own experiences in Africa while on safari. In 1957, the book was made into a film adaptation starring Sidney Poitier and Rock Hudson and directed by Richard Brooks.

In 1940s Kenya, Kimani, a member of the Kikuyu people, lives and works with other members of his tribe on a farm owned and operated by Henry Mackenzie, a white man from Britain. When Henry first arrives in Kenya, he hires Karanja, a respected Kikuyu tribe leader to help him run his plantation. A plague had recently taken from Karanja his wife and all of his children except for a single son, Kimani. Growing up, Kimani becomes close friends with Henry's son, Peter, and the two of them think of each other almost as brothers. Kimani also attends all the same predominantly white schools as Peter. Though set to inherit his father's plantation someday, Peter seeks a life of adventure spent exploring Africa and going on safari. Kimani, meanwhile, would love to inherit and operate the farm if given the chance.

One day when Peter and Kimani are teenagers, they are invited to go on a safari with Jeff, the husband of Peter's older sister, Elizabeth and the man who owns the plantation situated next to Henry's. While Jeff expects Kimani to serve as Peter's assistant on the hunt, as is customary when whites and Kikuyu go hunting together, Kimani balks at the suggestion. Having been treated as an equal to Peter for much of his life, he resents being treated as inferior by Jeff. When a sulking Kimani performs poorly in his capacity as Peter's hunting assistant, Jeff slaps him in the face. Vowing to kill Jeff, Kimani flees, apparently intent on abandoning the Mackenzie farm forever. However, in the process of fleeing the farm, Kimani's leg gets caught in a wild animal trap. Peter rescues Kimani and returns him to the Mackenzie estate.



Meanwhile, long-simmering political tensions start to boil over between indigenous Kenyans and the country's population of British colonialists. Access to land is a particular source of contention. For example, by 1948, 1.25 million Kikuyu own just 2,000 square miles of land, while 30,000 British colonialists own 12,000 square miles of land. Much of the land formerly owned by the Kikuyu and other tribes is expropriated by the British, in part to encourage indigenous Kenyans to abandon subsistence farming and become low-paid wage laborers on British-owned farms.

While the Kikuyu and other tribes have been demonstrating and organizing for many years, the conflict—referred to as the Mau Mau Uprising—doesn't turn violent until October of 1952. That month, a group of Mau Mau-affiliated fighters stabs a woman to death in the city of Thika, as the movement claims its first European victim. A few days later, Mau Mau fighters assassinate Senior Chief Waruhiu, a major proponent of the British in Kenya. This leads the British-born Governor of Kenya Evelyn Baring to declare a state of emergency in the country.

Still stewing from the racist treatment he received on the safari, Kimani joins the Mau Mau Uprising. As his first test, Kimani is asked to steal a supply of British weapons, a task he carries out with success. For the next few years, Kimani and Peter part ways. Kimani continues to rise through the Mau Mau ranks. Meanwhile, Peter finds something of a balance in his life, leading safaris to help support the farm, which suffers to remain solvent with so many of its workers having abandoned it to join the uprising. Peter also becomes engaged to Holly Keith.



One day, Kimani leads a raid on Jeff's farm, in which Jeff and his children are killed. Fortunately, Elizabeth survives. A separate Mau Mau insurgency group also attacks the Mackenzie farm, and Holly is forced to fight them off. Sensing the impossibility of keeping his family safe in the rural farmland, Henry arranges for Holly and Elizabeth to be sent to Nairobi, Kenya's capital until the fighting dies down. Furious that Kimani killed his sister's children and that his old friend is involved with a group that tried to kill Holly, Peter tracks Kimani down. The two fight and Kimani dies when he falls into a pit of bamboo spikes and is impaled.

Something of Value is an interesting look at the Mau Mau Uprising, albeit one that tends to present a less-than-historically accurate view of the Mau Mau Uprising as a tool of Soviet communists.