Rating: 
Summary: Comparison with 'Poisonwood Bible' (Congo/Zaire 1960s)
Review: I just read Barbara Kingsolver's new novel, The Poisonwood Bible, and was prompted to re-read Something of Value which I 1st read in the early 70s. I still find it (SV) a well-told, powerful story. The theme of both books is pretty well summed up in their titles: the tragic consequences that develop when peoples from western culture take over a native one. Kingsolver, the real life daughter of medical missionaries in the Congo/Zaire, has written this fictional account of a religious missionary family who goes to a Congolese village in the late 50s and 60s. It's told from a decidedly female point-of-view, in turn by each of the 4 daughters and periodically by the mother. The father is a Baptist minister from Georgia, whose autocratic, insensitive approach impacts both his family and the villagers. This book may be too "p.c." for you manly safari types, especially the 2nd half where the daughters are grown and the background politics of Patrice Lumumba becomes more apparent. But, I found value and reading pleasure in both books and have gained an inkling into the complex problems of today's Africa
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Summary: The best true life horor story I ever read and so much more
Review: I spent three of the most impressionable years of my live in Kenya in the early '70's as a State Department dependant. Even then, the Mau Mau uprising had a strong influence on day to day life in Kenya. Gun control laws were among the most strict in the world and for good reason. During my three years in Kenya I heard many stories from people who lived through the emergency. Most of these stories made Stephen King novels sound like childrens' tales. I could not count the times I've read both Uhuru and Something Of Value and each time they have taken me back in time to the Norfolk or New Stanley hotel. Everything about the book, from the safaris, to the uprising, are totally authentic. While this is not a "feel good" book, anyone who has a interest in East African history, or just wants to read on of the great books of this century MUST read this book. Even though this is a book of fiction, it should be required reading for anyone studying the history of Kenya. Make no mistake, most of the things written about in this book, no matter how disturbing, actually happened.
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Summary: shocking and mesmerizing story about some peoples reality
Review: I've been looking for this book since I read it 15 years ago! A dense, violent, passionate ,moving story, depicting aspects of human nature that are hard to believe and yet they are REAL. A shocking contact with an other culture. Unforgettable, for me the very best book I ever read !!
Rating: 
Summary: know your author: a gentle white supremacist
Review: Robert Ruark wrote one of the books I loved most when I was growing up in North Carolina in the 1960s: THE OLD MAN AND THE BOY, a poignant coming of age story. Later, when I became a historian, I found his writings again--in "The White Citizen," the publication of the White Citizens Councils, which were founded in Mississippi in 1956 and spread across the South in the white backlash against the prospect of equal rights for black people. Ruark was not the most vicious white supremacist around but, nostalgic for the South of his youth, he allowed his work to lend legitimacy to people who sought to deny African Americans of their rights. I will never forgive him nor easily forget my disappointment. And his sentimental white supremacy clouded his thinking and mars his writing, here and elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: know your author: a gentle white supremacist
Review: Robert Ruark wrote one of the books I loved most when I was growing up in North Carolina in the 1960s: THE OLD MAN AND THE BOY, a poignant coming of age story. Later, when I became a historian, I found his writings again--in "The White Citizen," the publication of the White Citizens Councils, which were founded in Mississippi in 1956 and spread across the South in the white backlash against the prospect of equal rights for black people. Ruark was not the most vicious white supremacist around but, nostalgic for the South of his youth, he allowed his work to lend legitimacy to people who sought to deny African Americans of their rights. I will never forgive him nor easily forget my disappointment. And his sentimental white supremacy clouded his thinking and mars his writing, here and elsewhere.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: Ruark excels at depicting action sequences. But this overly long book is populated by cardboard characters (easily interchangeable with those from "Uhuru") who engage in the most tedious conversations and introspections imaginable. Is this the worst book you'll ever read? Hardly. But it is a disappointment.
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Summary: Uncomfortable masterpiece, not for the politically correct.
Review: Ruark's finest work, this novel focuses on the Mau Mau rising in Kenya but entends to a consideration of many other fundamental issues, from the conflicts between man and woman to those between races. No pat, simplistic answers are provided-- thank God. The lack of resolution at the conclusion of the novel speaks for itself and is, in microcosm, a telling commentary on race relations, today. Ruark was, of course, a "white hunter" of some renown. He did not foresee the rabid anti-hunting movement of today, but speaks of a time when the uncomfortable truth of man-as-predator was not lacquered over with sentimentalist pap. While foreshadowing the "camera safaris" of the placid 90s, Ruark was still able to write of a time when a man could hunt truly dangerous big game. His spare but beautiful prose is, I suspect, what leads so many to carry this book through life as _the_ novel they most remember. Not one word is wasted. This book is not dogma, nor is it truly predictive of the future of Africa. It is meant to be savored by those who still have something of the hunter in their hearts.
Rating:
Summary: One of the finest books on 20th century Africa.
Review: Ruark's first-hand experience and insight into the events which changed Africa in the middle of this century are a real eye opener. If one really cares to know why and how Africa changed, a lot of it is found in this wonderful historic fiction based upon the evidence of an apparently noble cause gone madly awry. Not for the faint of heart.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent novel about the Mau Mau uprisings in Africa.
Review: Something of Value is a high action historical novel concerning the Mau Mau uprisings in Africa during the 1950's.Written about 1960 it's subject matter is current South Africa's worst nightmare,essentially native Mau Maus pitted against white farmers.It is fast paced and violent.Charactors are well developed,and the various scenes of danger and suffering are intense.
Ruark is an outstanding author,and has written several memorable books.This is one of his best.It deserves a reprinting and distribution.
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Summary: A one-book lesson in the realities of Africa
Review: The Africa described by Ruark in his late 50s novel is disappearing fast. But the problems Ð especially black-on-black hatred and violence Ð remain. As an African I recommend this work most heartily to readers around the world. And it's a ripping good yarn to boot
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