"...we have to recognize the fact that an African who looks at things from the tribal point of view and at the same time from that of western civilization, experiences the tragedy of the modern world in an especially acute manner." Introduction, p. ix

"For the extinction of a kinship groups means cutting off the ancestral spirits from visiting the earth, because there is no one left to communicate with them." Tribal Origin and Kinship System, p. 15

"The Gikuyu lost most of their lands through their magnanimity, for the Gikuyu country was never wholly conquered by force of arms, but the people were put under the ruthless domination of European imperialism through the insidious trickery of hypocritical treaties." The Gikuyu System of Land Tenure, p. 47

"Apart from these legends and stories which have been handed down from generation to generation, we have no other records to show exactly...