Lost Lion of Empire: The Life of 'Cape-to-Cairo' Grogan

Edward Paice, a former investment banker turned acclaimed historian of Africa, whose grandfather was a business associate of Ewart Grogan, has written this entertaining and informative biography of Ewart Grogan, one of those forces of nature who helped build the empire, and, in his case, lived to see its eclipse. Grogan was a prodigious student expelled from Cambridge for a prank that went too far, proved his mettle as a superb mountaineer in the Swiss alps, trekked from the Cape to Cairo to prove his worth to his beloved's father, fought in the Rhodesian, Boer, and World Wars, was inducted into Milner's Kindergarten, and then devoted his energies to developing Kenya. Enterprises he started included a railway, a saw mill, a concession on a vast forest, Nairobi's finest hotel, Mombasa's harbor, a vast agricultural project in Taveta not to mention his predominant role in Kenyan (settler) politics, and his families(!). Paice does an excellent job of making Grogan and his times accessible and understandable to the lay reader, and anyone with a liking for stories of swashbuckling larger than life figures will enjoy this book. Contrary to the claims of another reviewer, Grogan was a progressive, who looked forward to the day when Africans would assume responsibility for their country, and made a point of always treating Africans with respect, sometimes being ahead of his time in his liberal views. Yet at the same time, he was opposed to precipitous and premature transfers of power, which he foresaw - and history has vindicated him - would cause much grief. A thoughtful, but neither pedantic nor encyclopedic, biography of a thoughtful and highly accomplished man. highly recommended.

A well balanced, excellent read about a great man in a great time who loved both Africa and the African.