Robert Ruark was a man who lived like he wrote—loud, messy, and with a glass of gin never too far away. In 1955, he dropped a literary bomb called Something of Value. It wasn't just a book; it was a cultural explosion that shifted how the West looked at Africa, colonialism, and the terrifying capacity for human beings to butcher one another. People called him the "poor man’s Hemingway," but honestly, Ruark had a jagged edge that Hemingway often polished away.
The story is set in 1950s Kenya. It tracks the collision between Peter McKenzie, a white settler’s son, and Kimani, the son of a Kikuyu headman. They grew up together. They were basically brothers until a single, sharp slap across the face—fueled by colonial arrogance—shattered that bond forever. What follows is a descent into the Mau Mau Uprising, a bloody, real-world insurgency against British rule that Ruark captured with a level of gore that shocked readers seventy years ago.
The Proverb That Started It All
The title isn't just a catchy phrase. It comes from a Basuto proverb: "If a man does away with his traditional way of living and throws away his good customs, he had better first make certain that he has something of value to replace them."
Ruark wasn't just being poetic. He was making a cold, hard point about the mess the British left behind. They walked into Kenya, dismantled tribal structures, told the locals their gods were wrong, and then acted surprised when the whole thing caught fire. Ruark saw the tragedy of the "in-between." The characters in the book are caught between a tribal past they can't fully return to and a colonial future that treats them like second-class citizens.
Why Something of Value Robert Ruark Was So Dangerous
When you read it today, the book feels like a fever dream. It’s explicit. It’s exceedingly bloody. Ruark didn't spare the reader the details of the Mau Mau initiation oaths or the brutal retaliations by the "counter-gangs."
- The Violence: Ruark described the "panga" (machete) attacks with a journalist’s cold eye. He showed children being killed and livestock being hamstrung.
- The Perspective: Unlike a lot of colonial fiction, Ruark tried—in his own flawed way—to show why Kimani turned. He didn't just make him a "villain." He showed the humiliation of a man who was Peter’s equal in the bush but a servant in the house.
- The Authenticity: Ruark wasn't just guessing. He spent months on safari with legendary hunter Harry Selby. He talked to the people on the ground. He breathed the dust of the Rift Valley.
The Hollywood Fallout
In 1957, the book was turned into a movie starring Rock Hudson and Sidney Poitier. It was a massive deal. But here’s the kicker: the film was a total financial flop in the United States. Why? Because in 1957, the American South was in the middle of its own racial reckoning.
Theaters were terrified to show a movie where a black man (Poitier) and a white man (Hudson) were essentially equals-turned-enemies. It was too close to home. MGM eventually had to re-release it under the title Africa Ablaze just to try and claw back some cash.
The Controversy: Was Ruark a Racist?
This is where things get sticky. If you pick up Something of Value today, some of the language will make you flinch. Ruark used the terminology of his time, and his worldview was undeniably shaped by his status as a white, wealthy American sportsman.
Some critics, like those in TIME magazine back in 1962, hammered his follow-up novel, Uhuru, for portraying Africans as "savages" waiting to revert to the bush. They weren't entirely wrong. Ruark struggled with the idea of African self-governance. He feared that without the "civilizing" (in his view) influence of the British, the continent would spiral into chaos.
Yet, many Kenyan readers and historians have noted that Ruark was one of the few Westerners to actually document the sheer scale of the British brutality in the detention camps. He showed that the "civilized" side was just as capable of torture as the "terrorists" they were hunting. It’s a complicated, ugly, honest piece of work.
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The Writing Style of a "Political Eunuch"
Ruark famously called himself a "political eunuch." He claimed he didn't have a deep agenda. He just wanted to tell a "big, brawny, brutal" story.
His prose is wildly uneven. You’ll have a page of some of the most beautiful descriptions of the African landscape ever written—the way the sun hits the Ngong Hills or the smell of a wood fire at dusk—followed by twenty pages of clunky, repetitive dialogue. He wrote fast. Sometimes he wrote twenty pages a day. You can feel that speed in the rhythm of the book. It’s breathless and, at times, a bit sloppy.
Key Takeaways for Today’s Reader
If you're looking for a comfortable read, stay away from Something of Value Robert Ruark. It’s meant to make you uncomfortable. It’s a window into a world that was ending and a new one that was being born in blood.
- Read it for the history: While fictionalized, the book captures the "vibe" of the Mau Mau Emergency better than most dry textbooks.
- Look for the nuance: Don't just dismiss it as an old colonial relic. Look at how Ruark handles the friendship between Peter and Kimani. It’s genuinely heartbreaking.
- Understand the title: Think about what happens when you take away someone’s culture. What are you giving them instead? Most of the time, the answer is "nothing," and that's where the trouble starts.
How to Approach Ruark’s Work Now
If you want to understand the man behind the book, you should actually start with his other famous work, The Old Man and the Boy. It’s a series of stories about growing up in North Carolina, and it’s much gentler. It shows the side of Ruark that wasn't "ridden by devils" or lost in a gin bottle.
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But for the raw, unvarnished look at the 20th century’s colonial collapse, Something of Value is the one. You can find used hardcover copies (the ones with the orange and black spines) for pretty cheap at estate sales or online.
Next Steps for Enthusiasts:
- Find an original 1955 edition: The Daniel Schwartz illustrations in the first edition add a haunting layer to the text that modern paperbacks lack.
- Watch the 1957 film: It’s worth it just to see a young Sidney Poitier navigate a role that was incredibly progressive for the Eisenhower era.
- Read the follow-up, "Uhuru": If you want to see how Ruark’s views soured as he got older and more cynical, this is the book that actually got him banned from Kenya for a time.
Ruark died in London in 1965, his liver finally giving out after years of hard living. He’s buried in Spain, far from the North Carolina woods or the African plains he loved. But as long as people are still arguing about the legacy of the British Empire, Something of Value is going to stay relevant. It’s a messy book for a messy world.