Daniel Branch's book, Kenya: Between Hope and Despair is essentially a political history of Kenya between 1963, the time of the country's political independence, and 2011, the first anniversary of the country's second republic, which was inaugurated in August 2010 following the promulgation of a new constitution. The book contains eight chapters excluding an elaborate introduction of 24 pages and a shorter but crisp conclusion of 12 pages.

The main organizing thesis of the book is centred on the notion of the politics of redistribution versus the politics of recognition or identity politics first developed by Nancy Fraser and elaborated upon with particular reference to Kenya by Cohen and Atieno-Odhiambo and Bethwel Ogot. Branch aims to show how Kenya's political elite have encouraged political debate to centre on recognition/identity rather than on redistribution: ‘Elites have encouraged Kenyans to think and act politically in a manner informed first and foremost by ethnicity, in order to crush demands for the redistribution of scarce resources’ (p. 16). In the process of this mode of politics, the hope for a better socioeconomic dispensation on the part of ordinary Kenyans has been dashed and replaced by despair.

The book symbolically begins with a party in June 1963, organized by the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga to celebrate KANU's victory at independence. The party represents the hope of a new Kenya. However, this celebratory mood is replaced by despair as freedom is soon followed by suffering and inauguration of ‘Big Man politics’, which soon give way to the ‘war of arrows’ and the ‘Goldenberg Years’, emblematic of the wanton looting of state resources by the political elite. The defeat of KANU in 2002 and the assumption of power by NARC is again marked by a sumptuous party, organised this time around by Raila Odinga, son of Oginga. Yet, it is not long before it is realised that even with the change of parties in power, ‘nothing actually really changed’.

Branch clearly confirms his thesis – that the politics of identity has trumped the politics of redistribution to the advantage of the ruling elite. He writes perceptibly and lucidly about the shenanigans in Kenyan politics. The book is readily readable and gives one the sense of witnessing Kenyan political history as it unfolds. The author has an uncanny ability to present events with a vividness that makes the reader feel like he is watching a movie. This is a very important strength of the book – you do not want to put it down, you cannot fail empathise with the victims of the political elite.

Nevertheless, some minor errors can be detected in the book. On page 10, Branch writes: ‘… [Mboya] had himself been born into just such a family [Luo migrant], at their home close to the settler town of Thika in present-day Eastern Province.’ Thika is actually in Central Province, less than 20 minutes from Nairobi by car, while Mboya was born in Kilimambogo in Eastern Province. Similarly, on page 13 he writes: ‘A Tugen, one of the many smaller ethnic groups that, since 1945, had steadily amalgamated with the larger Kalenjin community.’ The Kalenjin are not one community but actually an amalgamation of many different communities including the Nandi, Kipsigis, Tugen, Sabaot, Marakwet, Elgeyo, etc.

Furthermore, the argument that nothing really changed in Kenya between 2002 and 2011 (pp. 245–286) is contestable. Sections of the political elite may have sought continuity with the modus operandi of the previous regimes, but this was met with successful resistance by a section of the political elite and Kenyans generally. The fallout between the Odinga-led brigade and Kibaki and his cohorts over the constitutional referendum of 2005 was a watershed development that facilitated the drafting of a constitution more in line with Kenyans’ aspirations. The promulgation of this constitution in August 2010 heralded a new political dispensation that has seen even the president held to account and stopped in his tracks on a number of decisions both by the judiciary and the legislature. In other words, much has changed since 2002.

All in all, Daniel Branch's book is a refreshing addition to the burgeoning literature on Kenya's political history. It is very well written and should be read by all those interested in the country's history, politics and development.