There Was a Country: A MemoirFrom 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. |
Contents
7 | |
A Primary Exposure | 15 |
Meeting Christie and Her Family | 30 |
A Lucky Generation | 39 |
PostIndependence Nigeria | 48 |
The Decline | 51 |
poem | 62 |
Benin Road poem | 73 |
Daddy Dont Let Him Die | 183 |
Laughed at Him poem | 196 |
Paſtures poem | 204 |
The Silence of the United Nations 2 | 215 |
and The Fall | 222 |
The Question of Genocide | 228 |
Gowon Responds | 236 |
A Reappraisal | 243 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
Achebe on Biafra Achuzia African Ahiara Asaba Awolowo Azikiwe's Banjo became Benin Biafran army Biafran soldiers Biafran War bombs British Broadcasting Chinua Achebe Christie Christopher Okigbo civilians Colonel colonial conflict corruption coup crisis culture Eastern Nigeria Eastern Region Emeka Emeka Ojukwu Enugu ethnic groups federal government fight genocide Ghana Government College government of Nigeria humanitarian Ibadan Ibid Ibos sic Igbo independence intellectual January Lagos later leaders London Madiebo major Massacre Metz Mid-West Mid-Western Nige Niger Nigeria-Biafra Nigeria-Biafra War Nigerian air force Nigerian army Nigerian Civil Nigerian Civil War Nigerian Military Nigerian Revolution Nnamdi Azikiwe Nwankwo and Ifejika Nzeogwu Odumegwu Ojukwu officers Ogidi Okongwu Onitsha Owerri peace Poems political president Press Professor published radio reports Republic of Biafra role secession Source story things tion told Umuahia United Nations University wanted West Africa writers Yakubu Gowon Yoruba