Britain and Kenya’s Constitutions, 1950–1960 By Robert Maxon

and often inaccurate, information on the constitutions of the 1950s and the historical conditions that produced them.

The current book focuses on constitution making during the decade, with close attention given to British initiatives. The main sources for the work are archival. First and foremost, these are the CO records deposited at the British National Archives (BNA). These include correspondence, conference proceedings, and varied reports of colonial officials, including Special Branch police sources and intelligence officers. British cabinet records provide a means to understanding imperial policies. Many of these primary sources are also found in the Kenya National Archives (KNA) in Nairobi (for example, the records of the 1960 conference at Lancaster House), but because these were accessed initially in London, citations have not always been provided for the Kenya files. The use of these extensive government records provides particularly important insights as to British policy as well as that of the colonial state. Thus the book emphasizes the British role in constitution making, given that it is clear as well that the British government held the constitutional initiative throughout the period under review.

Among the several archival collections most valuable for this study, the papers of Sir Michael Blundell stand out. Located at the Bodleian Library of Commonwealth and African Studies at Rhodes House in Oxford (RH), the Blundell Papers provide a comprehensive record for constitutional development that spans Sir Michael’s career in active politics from the late 1940s to 1963. Other sources at Rhodes House include the papers of the European Electors’ Union. The papers of the Kenyan governor Sir Evelyn Baring, located at Durham University Library (DUL), also provide an important source, though the material in the Baring Papers has relatively little to say about constitutional issues. At the KNA, the papers of Sir Wilfred Havelock are a most significant source. No similar extensive collections of private papers and correspondence exist for the African and Asian political leaders of the period, however. This helps to explain why a fuller perspective is provided for the European Elected Members (EEMs) even though the book utilizes police and intelligence