Set in the wake of the Mau Mau rebellion and on the cusp of Kenya’s independence from Britain, A Grain of Wheat follows a group of villagers whose lives have been transformed by the 1952–1960 Emergency. At the center of it all is the reticent Mugo, the village’s chosen hero and a man haunted by a terrible secret.

With activists taking to the streets with renewed vigor to fight racism, inequality, and capitalism, this collection of classic writings and primary documents restores the historical grounding and revolutionary genealogy of today’s protest movements. Including key writings of thinkers and figures like W.E.B. Du Bois, Hubert Harrison, Harry Haywood, Claude McKay, Claudia Jones, C.L.R.