East Africa's most prominent writer, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, was born James Thiong'o Ngugi, in Limuru, Kenya, on January 5, 1938. In order to shed his colonial Christian namesake, Ngugi dropped "James" from his name in favor of his traditional name. As a result of his eventual international recognition as a novelist, short-story writer, playwright, and essayist, he is often referred to simply as Ngugi. Ngugi was one of twenty-eight children; his father, a peasant farmer who could not own his own land, had four wives, and Ngugi was the fifth child of the third wife. Ngugi first received primary education beginning in 1946, in a school established by colonialist missionaries. Two years later, he was transferred to a school run by members of his native Kikuyu tribe, which provided a more Afrocentric education. Beginning in 1955, Ngugi attended Alliance High School at Kikuyu. He was strongly affected by the Mau...