“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 Morrison Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read Things 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.
The author presented his book Igbo Culture in a most convincing way by quoting expert opinions on most of the issues he discussed in the book. Through his carefully researched work and detailed analysis of facts, he showed in the book that Igbo youths working hard like their ancestors can reform Igboland into a new and better civilization by sifting the good aspects of Igbo culture into today's way of life. He started his book by making a brief reference to the possible migration route of Igbo ancestors from their earliest settlements in the forest region of Central Africa to their present-day settlement in Southeastern Nigeria of West Africa. He also made a brief reference to the development of the Igbo civilization through the period covering the Stone Age and Iron Age civilizations (pages 114). He painted a clear picture of the cultural background of the community where he was born and brought up and lived in for more than sixty years before he traveled to the United States of America. He traced the more than twenty-six generations-deep lineages, beliefs, concepts, customs, and history of Ihe Shikeaguma in Ntuegbe clan of Enugu State in Southeastern Nigeria as a sample core Igbo culture community. He also delved into the historical links and social formation of this community, with emphasis on genealogy, religion, settlement, language, government, law enforcement, defense, seasons, festivals, and residential structures (pages 1583). He took his readers to Igbo thought on God, self, family, human life, birth, death, spirit, human mind, and reincarnation (pages 85113). He clearly documented the cultural products of Igbo thought, which can be seen in the formulation of Igbo institutions with special reference to marriage, the extended family system, the social status structure and title system, festivals, informal education, traditional law, community service, religion, divination, and health-care services (pages 114202). He explained that the symbolism of various articles and some spoken words in Igbo culture are products of Igbo thought. He referred to ofo stick, kola nut, alligator pepper, spears, tribal face marks, body paint, white chalk, and the young palm frond as symbols or instruments of Igbo philosophical expressions and concepts (pages 203214). He showed how Igbo culture and philosophy have been affected by the cultures of Igbo neighbors in Nigeria and by other foreign cultures with special references to the following: (a) Ugwuele civilization (a Stone Age culture)1,000,000 BC500,000 BC (b) Nri civilization (a ritualized kingship system)AD 800AD 1700 (c) Aro civilization (slave trade and colonial era)AD 1700AD 1850 (d) Border civilization (slave trade and colonial era)AD 800AD1900 (e) External civilization (slave trade and colonial era)AD 1700AD 2000 (pages 215238) The author concluded his work by making an evaluation of Igbo culture. He carefully examined the oriented values of the Igbo and highlighted those areas of Igbo culture that should be refurbished and reinfused into Igbo life by the Igbo themselves in order to transform Igboland into a big theater of modern civilization (pages 239246).
Ohadike (Cornell U.) examines the organization and strength of African resistance movements against European colonialism with particular reference to the small-scale communities. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Often considered a Christian heartland in Nigeria, Igboland has recently seen a dramatic increase in Igbo Christians converting to Islam. Yet, despite this rapid change, there has been minimal research into the growth of Islam in the area and the implications this has for Christianity in the region. Addressing this need, Dr Chinyere Felicia Priest provides a detailed exploration of Igbo converts’ reasons for conversion through skilful analysis of in-depth ethnographic interviews with thirty converts, considering their social, religious, and familial backgrounds. This unique study sheds much-needed light on the role of intellectual factors in the conversion experiences of many newly Muslim Igbos and challenges previous ideas of monetary and social influences as primary motivations for conversion. As a result of her examination of these conversion experiences, Dr Priest calls for serious intellectual engagement of biblical doctrine within the Igbo church and highlights the need for ministers and missiologists to better disciple and equip Christians to adequately engage with Muslim objections to the gospel and give a reasoned defence of their faith. The vulnerability of many Igbo Christians will continue to result in converts to Islam unless the church heeds the lessons learned from this research and outlined in this book.
This history deals with the twenty-year period between 1880 and 1900, when virtually all of Africa was seized and occupied by the Imperial Powers of Europe. Eurocentric points of view have dominated the study of this era, but in this book, one of Africa's leading historians reinterprets the colonial experiences from the perspective of the colonized. The Johns Hopkins Symposia in Comparative History are occasional volumes sponsored by the Department of History at the Johns Hopkins University and the Johns Hopkins University Press comprising original essays by leading scholars in the United States and other countries. Each volume considers, from a comparative perspective, an important topic of current historical interest. The present volume is the fifteenth. Its preparation has been assisted by the James S. Schouler Lecture Fund.
The National Book Award winning history of how racist ideas were created, spread, and deeply rooted in American society. Some Americans insist that we're living in a post-racial society. But racist thought is not just alive and well in America -- it is more sophisticated and more insidious than ever. And as award-winning historian Ibram X. Kendi argues, racist ideas have a long and lingering history, one in which nearly every great American thinker is complicit. In this deeply researched and fast-moving narrative, Kendi chronicles the entire story of anti-black racist ideas and their staggering power over the course of American history. He uses the life stories of five major American intellectuals to drive this history: Puritan minister Cotton Mather, Thomas Jefferson, abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, W.E.B. Du Bois, and legendary activist Angela Davis. As Kendi shows, racist ideas did not arise from ignorance or hatred. They were created to justify and rationalize deeply entrenched discriminatory policies and the nation's racial inequities. In shedding light on this history, Stamped from the Beginning offers us the tools we need to expose racist thinking. In the process, he gives us reason to hope.
