After hearing Ngugi wa' Thiong'o talk about his third memoir, I decided to start with the first, his early life and education. As with the best memoirs, the personal life is related to the time and place where it was lived. Wa' Thiong'o moves easily and smoothly between the child voice of dim memory and the adult voice looking back on the times and filling in the background.

We learn about polygamous life and relationships: Ngugi was the fifth child of the third wife and had 23 siblings. We learn about the politics of education: colonial/ mission schools and independent African schools. We learn about colonial repression and the desire for freedom, about the Mau Mau guerillas and the Kenyans who worked with the colonial government, sometimes siblings on each side.

Undergirding it all is the thirst for knowledge and education and sacrifices to attain it.