There Was a Country
A Memoir
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4.5 • 48 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
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.
Customer Reviews
Touching
I am Igbo. My father fought in this war. Growing up I only got one side of the story, but as I aged, I began to realize that it's important to understand both sides of every story. This war was tragic, but thanks to this book and authors like Uncle Achebe, I'm coming to terms with my history (past and present).
There was a Country
Without a doubt, Chinua Achebe is one of the greats of modern literature in the English language, and perhaps the greatest to come out of my native Nigeria and the African continent. I cannot wait to read this account. My only concern though is that he holds nothing back and that the book says a lot more that has already been said elsewhere by Achebe and others about the Biafran story.
Outstanding!
This is Achebe at his best! Well thought out prose. Refreshing to read the Biafra side of the story