In Power and the Presidency in Kenya, Angelo focuses on “the political trajectory of both the man [Kenyatta] and the institution … exploring the ties that eventually bound president to presidency” (19). In doing so, Angelo has produced much more than a biography of Jomo Kenyatta, Kenya’s first independent president. She has written an institutional biography of the early postcolonial state, foregrounding negotiations over executive powers.
This book is an exemplar of interdisciplinary scholarship, also cutting across sub-disciplinary boundaries. At its heart, Power and the Presidency is a work of political, cultural, and intellectual history. Moreover, by drawing from the methods of biography, anthropology, and political science, Angelo is able to offer a complete picture of Kenyatta’s life and politics, from the ideas that influenced his early political imagination to his plans for a successor. The presidency that Angelo uncovers is marked by distance and passivity. Although such words...