In 1907, Churchill, aged 33 and in his first ministerial post as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, undertook a tour of East Africa a tour that combined big-game hunting with official engagements. This book, originally published in 1908, recounts his journey through lands only just beginning to feel the impact of the West

A piece of Journalism as WSC takes a trip mostly to Kenya and Uganda. He makes a plea for the extension of the Uganda railway. A slight piece, read for completion. ( )

I had been searching for an affordable book by Churchill that wasn't a huge multi-volume affair at used book shops all over the place and finally gave up and ordered a new copy of Amazon. The book I received is the most pathetic example of a book I've ever had. It looks like poor early photocopies of text typewritten on a manual typewriter and accompanied by really awful early photocopies of photographs.

However, I did enjoy the book. It was originally published in 1909 and recounts a journey Churchill had just taken from Mombasa, Kenya up to Uganda and then north up the Nile and back to England. His writing reflects the times with cringe-inducing references to "superior races" and it also includes unpleasant descriptions of hunts but fortunately these only represent a small part of the story which mostly describes the landscapes he traveled through and the people he met.

I found it interesting that he makes an argument for socialism in Uganda, which he clearly loves. In summing up the future he sees for Uganda, he says "I rejoice that the physical conditions of the country are such as to prevent the growth in the heart of happy Uganda of a pettywhite community, with the harsh and selfish ideas which mark the jealous contactof races and the exploitation of the weaker." ( )