Raila's biography - part 1

Finally managed to finish the book. A few comments
a) like others on this mailing list, I found the design, binding and editing sub standard
b) it is pretty evident the writer has not been a student of Kenyan politics and has often relied on metanarratives particularly around the political scene pre 1979
c) while the writer is no doubt intelligent, he is not necessarily a gifted storry teller/writer. I stand to be corrected, but believe he wrote somewhere that this was his first biography. It is evident that it is. Some of the problems I had with his writing include
* In most biographies, chapters are supposed to be pieces of a puzzle (not necessarily chronologically, they could be thematic) however his chapters overlap consistently with certain paragraphs being repetitous
* The writer acknowledges most that 10 people that contributed to the work, in my opinion these are the "too many cooks that spoilt the broth"
* On Kenya, there is no doubt that the writer did his research conducting numerous interviews and reading widely. However, I don't think the reading was wide enough. It is not enough to read the usual suspects (Thiongo, Mazrui etc). I believe its important to paint the story of the Kenya against a certain backdrop, otherwise it make Kenya look like a country that was at the time in absolute anarchy.
* On Raila, he quotes people without challenging them. Here's a statement that irked me to high heavens pg 332 quoting Mrs Phoebe Asiyo "...He is the only one in Kenya who is able to go to Nigeria and consult with President Obasanjo; Mandela in South Africa and Ghaddafi
in Libya." I know he is a friend of Obasanjo and of several SA politicians including Ramaphosa and Zuma but Madiba? A bad case of name dropping?

I hope there will be a 2nd edition to the book that will not only correct the grammar, spelling etc but will also provide some balance to a book that avoids (at all costs) being critical.

That said, overall I think the book is essential reading for anyone on Kenya (from a certain perspective) and I believe the man has achieved a lot more than most (if not all) of his peers.