Quick Reads

That Naked Soldier in ‘Beasts of No Nation’

If you’ve watched the powerful war movie Beasts of No Nation, then you’ve definitely seen Tripod, and his tripod. This is his story.

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The Legend of Otenyo

In 1908, a man called Otenyo Nyamaterere did something completely badass.

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The Lesser Known Ngugi

Two men, both called Ngugi, wrote one of Kenya's most famous satirical plays. One is now a living legend, the other, largely forgotten.

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There was once a ship called SS Karanja

There were actually three ships by that name and no, none was owned by or named for a Kikuyu man.

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Who is this man and why is he smiling?

It seems like an easy question to answer, but it isn’t.

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SIX HOURS ON FIGHT NIGHT: Makmende vs Wikipedia

Makmende had returned, and he was here to stay. Not that he reads books and Wikipedia anyway. He just beats them up to get the information he wants.

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Kenyatta’s Six Minutes as an Actor, and why he never talked About It

In the trivia section of the IMDb profile of the film Sanders of the River (1935) lies this nugget “Jomo Kenyatta, who was President of Kenya from 1963 to 1978, had a bit part in this movie as a tribal chief.” It was a 6-minute role he never talked about, and with good reason.

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AM Jeevanjee: The Man Who Built Nairobi

Although the only thing that still bears his name in Nairobi today is a public park, Alibhai Mulla Jeevanjee’s (AMJ) story is closely interwoven with the story of Nairobi’s beginnings. Jeevanjee was a businessman, politician, and philanthropist all packed into one stocky, curious, and illustrious immigrant who made Kenya his home.

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The Brain-Eating Bear that Haunted the Nandi

Sometime in 1925, a six-year-old girl disappeared from a village in Uasin Gishu. She was pulled violently through the fence of thorns that surrounded the village. The bloodied thorns suggested that chances of finding her alive were certainly nil. If they found her body, they would find her scalped and her skull cracked open. Chemosit, …

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