Robert Ruark, Uhuru: A Novel of Africa Today. McGraw-Hill, 1962. First Edition Hardcover Book in Dust Jacket. Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 62-7323. Stated first edition on copyright page. Book is in good/very good condition. Text block and gray and black book boards clean, no markings or writings. Some yellowing to pages edges due to age. Corners good. Dust jacket good, some sun fading to spine edge. Very small chipping at top spine edge and lower spine edge, all as indicated in my pictures, which are of the actual book being offered for sale. Dust jacket is not price clipped and displays original price of $5.95. Protected in a Brodart cover. This book is from the wonderful book collection of the late Laura P. Sale of Oxford, MS.

     Born in Wilmington on December 29, 1915, Robert C. Ruark was known as the “poor man’s Hemingway”, and he became one of North Carolina’s most prominent twentieth-century writers. During the 1950s, Ruark moved to Africa, and his writing-style emphasized the violence in the region during the Mau-Mau rebellion. Uhuru chronicles in fictional form the events of the ten-year period following the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya which Ruark wrote about in his earlier work Something of Value. Uhuru was published one year before Kenya declared independence after 75 years of British colonial rule. Uhuru is a novel with a similar theme to Something of Value but not intended to be a sequel. "Uhuru" is the Swahili word for freedom. This fictional account chronicles racial bias, tribal values, and political unrest during the time period in which Ruark lived in Africa.

     A beautiful, collectible book by a collectible writer about a dramatic era. Perfect for Ruark collectors or those interested in Mid-Century American Literature or the political movements in Africa's history.