Description
Book SynopsisA uniquely detailed portrayal of the formative years of Tanzania's first president and the influences that led him to enter politics. Julius Kambarage Nyerere (1922-1999), the first President of Tanzania, was a man whose political life was uniquely and inextricably bound into the history of the nation he created. This book presents the first truly rounded portrait of Nyerere's early life, from his birth in 1922 until his graduation from Edinburgh in 1952, enabling us to see his later political achievements in a new light. It was after returning to Tanganyika that "Mwalimu" (the teacher)formally entered politics, and led efforts to deliver Tanganyika to independence. Drawing on interviews with his contemporaries and archival sources including his letters as a student and colonial authorities files on him, this biography brings a new perspective on how the scholarship that Nyerere engaged with as a young man influenced his ideas of the uhuru movement against colonial rule and, later, the ujamaa policy of African socialism that so defined his leadership of an independent Tanzania. Thomas Molony is Senior Lecturer in African Studies at the University of Edinburgh.
Trade ReviewOffers a detailed, entertaining account of the life and ideas of one of Africa's greatest statesmen that reaches far earlier than this, and makes a valuable contribution to Africa's political history as a result. * AFRICA AT LSE BLOG *
A major contribution to the field. * THE ROUND TABLE *
A well-researched, scholarly, yet highly-readable, work about one of the most remarkable, but least understood, African leaders of the last century. How welcome it is.... A wonderful book and one that should be on the shelves of universities and secondary schools not only in Africa but in those countries in the Commonwealth where African studies are underway.. . This is a book that any serious student of Africa in the 20th century should read in order to better understand the way that the massive influence of the Roman Catholic Church had on the life of Julius Nyerere. -- Trevor Grundy * POLITICSWEB/Africa Unauthorised *
It is an effective chronicle of a young man who excelled in school, took Roman Catholic missionary instruction, received a degree from Makerere College in Uganda, received another undergraduate degree from the University of Edinburgh, and returned home to teach secondary school and help create an independent republic. Recommended. * CHOICE *
Affords one insights into what could have formed, and informed, Nyerere's later political agenda and action... The value of this book is that it suggests a multiplicity of influences, from village life in a very traditional setting to the influence of Catholicism and to the best education the West could offer... Dr Thomas Molony helps us to broaden and deepen our knowledge. The East African * . *
Table of ContentsButiama The Abandoned Place Musoma and Tabora: Kambarage, Spirit of the Rain Makerere: Becoming Julius Return to Tabora: African Associations Scotland: Great Conceptions Edinburgh and Uhuru: Politics, Philosophy and Economics Edinburgh and Ujamaa: History and Anthropology London and Pugu: Teaching and Politics The Early Years: Legacy and Reappraisal Appendix: Select Biographies
