Book Description

All Malawians know their national hero, the Rev John Chilembwe, who, in 1915, protested against colonialism with an armed uprising. To understand him, it is necessary to understand Joseph Booth, who baptized him and took him to America in 1897 to study for the Baptist ministry. There in America Booth published his Africa for the African to the intense dislike of the colonial administration. Booth was an Evangelical missionary, but a maverick among them. This book explores what made him the odd man out among his fellow missionaries by tracing his and his family's life in Auckland and Melbourne, arguing that his political involvement must be understood from his specific Baptist background.