Empire State-building

Joanna Lewis is Professor in the Department of International History at the London School of Economics, where she is also Director of the Centre for Women, Peace and Security.

• Introduction - War & welfare at the Colonial Office: empire state-building 1925-45 - 'Tropical East Ends' in war: four witnesses to the imperial politics of African welfare - Village people, family men & married women: the fantasies of wartime Kenya - 'Kingi Georgi, mtukufu': African soldiers & the Second World War - 'To work like a nigger' or 'shirk like an African': social welfare's uphill struggle, 1946-48 - The imperial politics of inclusion: community development & social engineering, 1948-53

Books on Kenya's colonial history continue to appear but this one is unusual in several aspects. The title is arresting and the chapter headings certainly catch the eye ... the main focus ... is on the history of colonial policies for African social welfare and, as it later transformed, for community development. World War II enhanced the concept of welfare by the state in Britain, and this led to a major transition in the notion of trusteeship in the colonies. The book explores four 'historiographies of empire', as the author puts it: the importance of the war, metropolitan thought, the colonial state and gender ... it is a pity the story is not carried further up to independence; but perhaps this view is an indication of the considerable interest which this book will arouse.