Chinua Achebe

<p>A very funny satire on the sad corruptions that threaten careerist politicians ... Chief the Honourable M.A. Nanga, MP, is a beautifully realized comic portrait of a fraudulent, arriviste, demagogic universal charmer. Set against Mr Nanga is the uncorrupted, sensual, self-inquiring young narrator Odili, and the real subtlety of the book lies in how perilously close Odili, the attractive, unidealized hero, comes at moments to the absurd, revolting Nanga, and it is exactly Odili's most attractive quality, his sensual zest for life, that puts him in the greatest peril of becoming yet one more Mr Nanga, the deflated demagogue who ends on the rubbish heap. Modern comedy.</p> <p>

### Review "Chinua Achebe is a magical writer — one of the greatest of the twentieth century." — Margaret Atwood "It is a measure of Achebe's creative gift that he has no need whatsoever for prose fireworks to light the flame of his intense drama. Wothry of particular attention are the characters. Achebe doesn't create his people with fastidiously detailed line drawings: instead, he relies on a few short strokes that highlight whatever prominent features will bring the total personlaity into three-dimensional life." — _Time _ "The power of majesty of Chinua Achebe's work has, literally, opened the world to generations of readers. He is an ambassador of art, and a profound recorder of the human condition." — Michael Dorris "He is one of the few writers of our time who has touched us with a code of values that will never be ironic. This great voice." — Michael Ondaatje ### Product Description This novel was included in Anthony Burgess's personal selection of the 99 best novels in English since 1939.

"The novel takes place in the imaginary West African country of Kangan, where a Sandhurst-trained officer, identified only as Sam and known as His Excellency, has taken power following a military coup. Achebe describes the political situation through the experiences of three friends: Chris Oriko, the government's Commissioner for Information; Beatrice Okoh, an official in the Ministry of Finance and girlfriend of Chris; and Ikem Osodi, a newspaper editor critical of the regime. Other characters include Elewa, Ikem's girlfriend and Major "Samsonite" Ossai, a military official known for stapling hands with a Samsonite stapler. Tensions escalate through the novel, culminating in the assassination of Ikem by the regime, the toppling and death of Sam and finally the murder of Chris. The novel ends with a non-traditional naming ceremony for Elewa and Ikem's month old daughter, organized by Beatrice. "--Wikipedia.

Twelve stories by the internationally renowned novelist which recreate with energy and authenticity the major social and political issues that confront contemporary Africans on a daily basis.

<b>&ldquo;A magical writer&mdash;one of the greatest of the twentieth century.&rdquo;&#160;<b>&mdash;Margaret Atwood</b><br>&#160;<br>&ldquo;African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe.&rdquo;&#160;<b>&mdash;Toni Morrison<br></b><br>A classic story of moral struggle in an age of turbulent social change and the final book in Chinua Achebe&rsquo;s&#160;<i>The African Trilogy</i><br><br></b>When Obi Okonkwo, grandson of Okonkwo,&#160;the main character in&#160;<i>Things Fall Apart</i>&#160;returns to Nigeria from England in the 1950s, his foreign education separates him from his African roots.&#160;<i>No Longer at Ease,</i>&#160;the third and concluding novel in Chinua Achebe&rsquo;s&#160;<i>The African Trilogy</i>, depicts the uncertainties that beset the nation of Nigeria, as independence from colonial rule loomed near. In Obi Okonkwo&rsquo;s experiences, the ambiguities, pitfalls, and temptations of a rapidly evolving society are revealed.... <p>“A magical writer—one of the greatest of the twentieth century.” —Margaret Atwood “African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe.” —Toni MorrisonA classic story of moral struggle in an age of turbulent social change and the final book in Chinua Achebe’s The African TrilogyWhen Obi Okonkwo, grandson of Okonkwo, the main character in Things Fall Apart returns to Nigeria from England in the 1950s, his foreign education separates him from his African roots. No Longer at Ease, the third and concluding novel in Chinua Achebe’s The African Trilogy, depicts the uncertainties that beset the nation of Nigeria, as independence from colonial rule loomed near. In Obi Okonkwo’s experiences, the ambiguities, pitfalls, and temptations of a rapidly evolving society are revealed. He is part of a ruling Nigerian elite whose corruption he finds repugnant. His fate, however, overtakes him as he finds himself trapped between the expectation of his family, his village—both representations of the traditional world of his ancestors—and the colonial world.  A story of a man lost in cultural limbo, and a nation entering a new age of disillusionment, No Longer at Ease is a powerful metaphor for his generation of young Nigerians.</p>

Chinua Achebe is considered the father of modern African literature, the writer who "opened the magic casements of African fiction. " The African Trilogy--comprised of Things Fall Apart, Arrow of God, and No Longer at Ease--is his magnum opus. In these masterly novels, Achebe brilliantly imagines the lives of three generations of an African community as their world is upended by the forces of colonialism from the first arrival of the British to the waning days of empire. The trilogy opens with the groundbreaking Things Fall Apart, the tale of Okonkwo, a hero in his village, whose clashes with missionaries--coupled with his own tragic pride--lead to his fall from grace. Arrow of God takes up the ongoing conflict between continuity and change as Ezeulu, the headstrong chief priest, finds his authority is under threat from rivals and colonial functionaries. But he believes himself to be untouchable and is determined to lead his people, even if it is towards their own destruction. Finally, in No Longer at Ease, Okonkwo's grandson, educated in England, returns to a civil-service job in Lagos, only to see his morality erode as he clings to his membership in the ruling elite. Drawing on the traditional Igbo tales of Achebe's youth, The African Trilogy is a literary landmark, a mythic and universal tale of modern Africa. As Toni Morrison wrote, "African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe. For passion, intellect and crystalline prose, he is unsurpassed. "

From one of the greatest writers of the modern era, an intimate and essential collection of personal essays on home, identity, and colonialismChinua Achebe’s characteristically eloquent and nuanced voice is everywhere present in these seventeen beautifully written pieces. From a vivid portrait of growing up in colonial Nigeria to considerations on the African-American Diaspora, from a glimpse into his extraordinary family life and his thoughts on the potent symbolism of President Obama’s elections—this charmingly personal, intellectually disciplined, and steadfastly wise collection is an indispensable addition to the remarkable Achebe oeuvre.

**From the legendary author of *Things Fall Apart* --a long-awaited memoir of coming of age in a fragile new nation, and its destruction in a tragic civil war** For more than forty years, Chinua Achebe has maintained a considered silence on the events of the Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, of 1967-1970, addressing them only obliquely through his poetry. Now, decades in the making, comes a towering account of one of modern Africa's most disastrous events, from a writer whose words and courage have left an enduring stamp on world literature. A marriage of history and memoir, vivid firsthand observation and decades of research and reflection, *There Was a Country* is a work whose wisdom and compassion remind us of Chinua Achebe's place as one of the great literary and moral voices of our age. **From the legendary author of** Things Fall Apart **—a long-awaited memoir of coming of age in a fragile new nation, and its destruction in a tragic civil war** For more than forty years, Chinua Achebe maintained a considered silence on the events of the Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, of 1967–1970, addressing them only obliquely through his poetry. Decades in the making, *There Was a Country* is a towering account of one of modern Africa’s most disastrous events, from a writer whose words and courage left an enduring stamp on world literature. A marriage of history and memoir, vivid firsthand observation and decades of research and reflection, *There Was a Country* is a work whose wisdom and compassion remind us of Chinua Achebe’s place as one of the great literary and moral voices of our age.

*From the legendary author of* Things Fall Apart *comes a longawaited memoir about coming of age with a fragile new nation, then watching it torn asunder in a tragic civil war* The defining experience of Chinua Achebe’s life was the Nigerian civil war, also known as the Biafran War, of 1967–1970. The conflict was infamous for its savage impact on the Biafran people, Chinua Achebe’s people, many of whom were starved to death after the Nigerian government blockaded their borders. By then, Chinua Achebe was already a world-renowned novelist, with a young family to protect. He took the Biafran side in the conflict and served his government as a roving cultural ambassador, from which vantage he absorbed the war’s full horror. Immediately after, Achebe took refuge in an academic post in the United States, and for more than forty years he has maintained a considered silence on the events of those terrible years, addressing them only obliquely through his poetry. Now, decades in the making, comes a towering reckoning with one of modern Africa’s most fateful events, from a writer whose words and courage have left an enduring stamp on world literature. Achebe masterfully relates his experience, bothas he lived it and how he has come to understand it. He begins his story with Nigeria’s birth pangs and the story of his own upbringing as a man and as a writer so that we might come to understand the country’s promise, which turned to horror when the hot winds of hatred began to stir. To read *There Was a Country* is to be powerfully reminded that artists have a particular obligation, especially during a time of war. All writers, Achebe argues, should be committed writers—they should speak for their history, their beliefs, and their people. Marrying history and memoir, poetry and prose, *There Was a Country* is a distillation of vivid firsthand observation and forty years of research and reflection. Wise, humane, and authoritative, it will stand as definitive and reinforce Achebe’s place as one of the most vital literary and moral voices of our age. ### From Bookforum Achebe's story is broken into four parts that cover, roughly, the personal and political arc of his life story. [He] is addressing his people, his country, the world; he's taking on the role of statesman rather than storyteller. —Victor Lavalle ### Review "Achebe writes in a characteristically modest fashion. It is without restraint but not without tact that his body of work has protested mediocrity in its various forms, from the British colonial apparatus, to the world’s ignorance of African literatures, to the corrosive mismanagement that has plagued Nigeria. **Like much of Achebe’s other work, this book about the progress of war and the presence of violence has a universal quality**. In a world where sectarian hatreds augmented by political mediocrity have fractured Syria and threaten to bring Israel and Iran to blows, ***There Was a Country* is a valuable account of how the suffering caused by war is both unnecessary and formative**." —*Newsweek ***"Memoir and history are brought together by a master storyteller." ** — *The Guardian* Advance Praise: "Chinua Achebe's history of Biafra is a meditation on the condition of freedom. It has the tense narrative grip of the best fiction. It is also a revelatory entry into the intimate character of the writer's brilliant mind and bold spirit. **Achebe has created here a new genre of literature in which politico-historical evidence, the power of storytelling, and revelations from the depths of the human subconscious are one.** The event of a new work by Chinua Achebe is always extraordinary; this one **exceeds all expectation**." —Nadine Gordimer, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

“A true classic of world literature . . . A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world.” —Barack Obama “African literature is incomplete and unthinkable without the works of Chinua Achebe.” —Toni MorrisonNominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American ReadThings Fall Apart is the first of three novels in Chinua Achebe's critically acclaimed African Trilogy. It is a classic narrative about Africa's cataclysmic encounter with Europe as it establishes a colonial presence on the continent. Told through the fictional experiences of Okonkwo, a wealthy and fearless Igbo warrior of Umuofia in the late 1800s, Things Fall Apart explores one man's futile resistance to the devaluing of his Igbo traditions by British political andreligious forces and his despair as his community capitulates to the powerful new order. With more than 20 million copies sold and translated into fifty-seven languages, Things Fall Apart provides one of the most illuminating and permanent monuments to African experience. Achebe does not only capture life in a pre-colonial African village, he conveys the tragedy of the loss of that world while broadening our understanding of our contemporary realities.

A Vintage Shorts "Short Story Month" Selection<br> <br> Mrs. Emenike resents that her husband drives a Mercedes while she is relegated the "noisy fiat," and she loathes the words "free primary education," a new government initiative for which three of her servants have abandoned her. But, when the program is recalled, ten-year-old Vero, whose hopes of going to school have been dashed, is Mrs. Emenike's next willing recruit&#8212;young, innocent, and desperate to do anything and everything she must to earn an education. <br> <br> In this masterful story by "the father of Nigerian writing," Chinua Achebe portrays the devastating injustice done to young women by government corruption and wealth inequality. Selected from Achebe's much-lauded collection of short fiction, <i>Girls at War</i>.<br> <br> An ebook Short. <p>A Vintage Shorts “Short Story Month” Selection   Mrs. Emenike resents that her husband drives a Mercedes while she is relegated the “noisy Fiat,” and she loathes the words “free primary education,” a new government initiative for which three of her servants have abandoned her. But, when the program is recalled, ten-year-old Vero, whose hopes of going to school have been dashed, is Mrs. Emenike’s next willing recruit—young, innocent, and desperate to do anything and everything she must to earn an education.   In this masterful story by “the father of Nigerian writing,” Chinua Achebe portrays the devastating injustice done to young women by government corruption and wealth inequality. Selected from Achebe’s much-lauded collection of short fiction, Girls at War.   An ebook short.</p>