Product Description

"The Lunatic Express" is the saga of the turbulent international race for the mastery and development of an immense region of East Africa that all but visionaries thought worthless. It is the narrative of the building of the Mombasa-Nairobi-Lake Victoria Railway itself - the colossal six-year enterprise that was to cost #5,000,000 and countless lives, from derailments, collisions, disease, tribal raids and the assaults of wild animals. It is a diorama of an earlier Africa of slave and ivory empires, of sultans and tribal monarchs and the vast lands that they ruled. Above all, it is the story of the white intruders whose combination of avarice, honour and tenacious courage made them a breed apart.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #718530 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 572 pages

About the Author
Charles Miller is a New York journalist who has made countless trips through Africa.

Customer Reviews

lunatic express
a long book, full of kenyan history, and the railways. excellent read and recommended to anyone interested in kenyan history.