Half of a Yellow Sun

Book Description

A masterly, haunting new novel from a writer heralded by The Washington Post Book World as “the 21st-century daughter of Chinua Achebe,” Half of a Yellow Sun re-creates a seminal moment in modern African history: Biafra’s impassioned struggle to establish an independent republic in Nigeria in the 1960s, and the chilling violence that followed.

With astonishing empathy and the effortless grace of a natural storyteller, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie weaves together the lives of three characters swept up in the turbulence of the decade. Thirteen-year-old Ugwu is employed as a houseboy for a university professor full of revolutionary zeal. Olanna is the professor’s beautiful mistress, who has abandoned her life of privilege in Lagos for a dusty university town and the charisma of her new lover. And Richard is a shy young Englishman in thrall to Olanna’s twin sister, an enigmatic figure who refuses to belong to anyone. As Nigerian troops advance and the three must run for their lives, their ideals are severely tested, as are their loyalties to one another.

Epic, ambitious, and triumphantly realized, Half of a Yellow Sun is a remarkable novel about moral responsibility, about the end of colonialism, about ethnic allegiances, about class and race—and the ways in which love can complicate them all. Adichie brilliantly evokes the promise and the devastating disappointments that marked this time and place, bringing us one of the most powerful, dramatic, and intensely emotional pictures of modern Africa that we have ever had.

Customer Reviews:

Half of a Yellow Sun - Great read!.......2007-10-18

Well written and interesting story. Could not put it down, would recommend it for book clubs because many parts of it are great for discussions.

A Literary Classic!!.......2007-10-16

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the newest Nigerian writer in the mould of Chinua Achebe or Nobel Laureate Wole Shoyinka, and much like tham, her writing style is simply outstanding!

"Half of a yellow sun" is her second book, following the critically acclaimed "Purple Hibiscus", and has won the Orange prize for fiction. The book takes its name from the half yellow sun on the Biafran flag.

Filled with vivid prose and wit, and very real, colourful characters: Odenigbo, his girlfriend Olanna, her twin Kainene, her English boyfriend Richard (who becomes Igbo by association), and houseboy Ugwu, it is set in sixties Nigeria, fresh from Independence and still wobbling as she tries to find her feet.

More importantly, it gives one an insight into the suffering, pain, heartache, endured by the Biafrans (the short lived secessionist nation), the scheming of the west, as well as the blissful ignorance of most other Nigerians of the carnage going on in the eastern part of the nation, all this done without pointing any fingers or judging.

This book, though fiction, is an important chronicle of a part of Nigerian history that should never be forgotten, and left me deeply moved. A literary classic!!

Powerful characters captured by outstanding writing.......2007-09-25

It is the late 1960s. In Africa, the small nation of Biafra struggles to establish a republic independent from Nigeria. The world is not paying attention as people are slaughtered, as heroes are born, as classes and ethnic groups clash and fight and flee.

Amidst this backdrop of turmoil, you meet Ugwu, a thirteen-year-old boy just hired as a houseboy by Odenigbo, a university professor and revolutionary. You follow Odenigbo and his girlfriend Olanna as they abandon one house after another, fleeing with Ugwu, trying to stay one step ahead of the front line of the war. You travel with Richard, a young Englishman who considers himself a citizen of this new nation of Biafra, as he navigates the war and pursues Olanna's proud and beautiful twin sister Kainene. You get a glimpse, through these characters, into the chaos and instability that is the daily lives of those affected by war.

Adichie's new novel is ambitious - it manages simultaneously to be both broad in scope and intimate in its details. Her writing is beautiful, and her characters so well fleshed out that you keep thinking about them, wondering what will happen to them, long after the book is done. There is death here, yes, but there is also birth and friendship and lust. There is hunger, but there is also generosity and truth. Adichie does an excellent job portraying the surreal coexistence of the fear and devastation of war with the more mundane, but perhaps even more painful, struggles to maintain some semblance of "normal" life - meals prepared and eaten, school attended, marriages planned and babies conceived.

Adichie's novel is a window into the past, into a place that most of us have never been. The clash and coincidence of the love story and the war epic render Half a Yellow Sun into the kind of fiction that is often more telling, more evocative of a particular point in history, than any strictly historic account could ever be.

Armchair Interviews says: The book makes you feel the characters struggle in a way that only the best fiction can.

Still thinking about this book.......2007-09-17

I won't say much since the other reviewers have nicely listed a synopsis of the book, but what I will say is that I loved this book. It is not often one finds a book where you care very much for the characters and want to know what happens next and can't put it down. The author writes in a way that makes you feel you are there. Those who have lived in Africa will also feel closer to the book and its characters. When I finished this book I cried... and am still thinking about the story. Buy this book, you will not be disappointed.

compelling read with complex characters .......2007-09-16

Africa is undeniably hip right now. Just ask Oprah, Bono, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, among other luminaries, make their annual pilgrimages between the "third" world and the "first" world to remind us of our moral obligation to our long-suffering brothers and sisters in Africa. From the continent has come one of the finest writers I have read in a long time. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is the author of Purple Hibiscus, and her latest masterpiece, Half of a Yellow Sun. In this novel, which won the prestigious Orange prize for literature in the UK, Adichie brings Nigeria in the early '60s to life.

Through the lives of her central characters, we see the political and cultural tensions that were brewing in the years leading up to the Biafran war, a brutal conflict initially started by tribal differences. Thirteen-year old Ugwu is employed as a house boy to a radical University professor, Olanna is the professor's beautiful and privileged girlfriend who has eschewed her bourgeois life for the brilliant professor. Richard is a shy, insecure Englishman who seeks to rediscover himself in his relationship with Olanna's sister, Kainene, a fierce, mysterious woman who is beholden to no one. Adichie wasn't even born when these events were unfolding, but she heard stories about the war and its aftermath from her parents and other relatives who were swept up in these apocalyptic events that ultimately led to much suffering for Nigeria's people.

Why read this book? Aside from the political and moral questions it raises, it's a compelling read with complex characters who will leave you reflecting on their stories long after you have finished the novel.

The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society

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More Important Now than Ever!
striving for fairness
Looking back at the United America
It's Tribalism Stupid
still a spot on rendering of current immigration

The Disuniting of America: Reflections on a Multicultural Society
Arthur M. Schlesinger
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393318540

Amazon.com

In this updated version of a modern classic, acclaimed historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. strikes a blow against radical multiculturalism. The rising cult of ethnicity, he argues, threatens a common American identity, imperiling the civic ideals that traditionally have bonded immigrants into a nation. Various chapters criticize bilingual education, Afrocentrism, and the use of history as group therapy for minorities. Schlesinger raised eyebrows when he first published this book in 1992 because of his impeccable liberal credentials as a one-time assistant to President Kennedy and long-standing academic champion of FDR's New Deal. This new version contains all of the original volume's edge, plus a few extras, including an appendix containing "Schlesinger's Syllabus," 13 books "indispensable to an understanding of America." Titles from this eclectic list include The Federalist Papers, Tocqueville's Democracy in America, Uncle Tom's Cabin, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Mencken's American Language. The Disuniting of America remains an essential book for readers interested in the American character as it enters the 21st century. --John J. Miller

Book Description

The bestseller that reminded us what it means to be an American is more timely than ever in this updated and enlarged edition, including "Schlesinger's Syllabus," an annotated reading list of core books on the American experience. The classic image of the American nation-a melting pot in which differences of race, wealth, religion, and nationality are submerged in democracy-is being replaced by an orthodoxy that celebrates difference and abandons assimilation. While this upsurge in ethnic awareness has had many healthy consequences in a nation shamed by a history of prejudice, the cult of ethnicity, if pressed too far, threatens to fragment American society to a dangerous degree. Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner in history and adviser to the Kennedy and other administrations, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., is uniquely positioned to wave the caution flag in the race to a politics of identity. Using a broader canvas in this updated and expanded edition, he examines the international dimension and the lessons of one polyglot country after another tearing itself apart or on the brink of doing so: among them the former Yugoslavia, Nigeria, even Canada. Closer to home, he finds troubling new evidence that multiculturalism gone awry here in the United States threatens to do the same.

Customer Reviews:

More Important Now than Ever!.......2007-05-12

When you think of what befell Rome or
Huntington's "Clash of Civilizations"
this book brings it all together and
is a MUST READ to understand what
is happening the American Melting Pot!

striving for fairness.......2007-05-03

The most prominent feature of this book, last revised in 1998, is the fact that the author bends over backward to find something complimentary to say about the ideology that has gripped America for the last few decades. This in itself is quite a challenge, and Schlesinger often gives the impression that he is straining to find some way to make the various slogans of this new dogma seem defensible.

The author's main interest is history, and a great part of the book is on the dismantling of history that has occurred in the last thirty years. The kid gloves treatment of what without exaggeration can easily be called a cultural atrocity, will make some readers impatient. Does he really think that these people are going to read his book? Does he really think that, even if they DO read his book, that their opinions are going to be altered to even a slight degree?

If he does think this, then he does not really understand the full seriousness of the new American mind-set. For a thorough study of this new ideology, see While America Sleeps: How Islam, Immigration and Indoctrination are Destroying America from Within. This book is fair, but it does not attempt to make excuses for what is going on. I really do not think that Schlesinger understood the full seriousness of what is going on. He has spent his life among reasonable and well-informed people.

Looking back at the United America.......2006-11-08

Today Mr. Schlesinger appears to be a conservative vs. the liberal he actually was when writing the book.

For people over 50, you will recognize America as it was. For younger folks, this will give you an idea of the very rapid changes this country has experienced.

The country was at one time like a rich stew, and now has become a bunch of individual plates of foods or ingredients that don't even want to touch each other. Each ingredient yells out how important it is, and not realizing that carrots alone, wonderful as they may be, have not reached the potential they can when mixed with potatoes, meat, tomatoes, spices and lovingly blended into that rich stew.

Hopefully people will read and understand that the individual ethnic groups need recognition. But, they need to be Americans first, and their ethnic background as second. For example, American-Asian instead of
Asian-American. The ethnocentricism is tearing the country apart, weakening us to invasions of many types.

This book brings these ideas to mind and will make you think and reflect.

It's Tribalism Stupid.......2006-09-01

While this book was not as compelling as I expected it to be, I completely agree with the general premise. That being that multi-culturalism taken too far is both harmful and counter-productive. Not to mention that it is completely antithetical to what our founders envisioned for this country. Mr. Schlesinger has nothing against the teaching of cultures other than European-American, but he insists that an over-emphasis on ethnicity, ultimately promotes division and an 'us vs. them' mentality. Multi-culturalists argue that it is important for students to be taught about their own respective ethnicity in order to have self-esteem and pride. Mr. Schlesinger argues, and I firmly agree, that as Americans, we no longer belong to the ethnicities of our grandfathers. Our founding fathers were clear about this, Americans are a "new race of men" who must "cast off the European skin, never to resume it." Indeed, America was meant to be a melting pot. Schlesinger acknowledges that throughout much of our history, many minorities were forcibly excluded from fully assimilating. This is no longer the case though, and I think it is important to point out that just because a man (or a nation) fails to live up to it's ideals, does not mean that the ideals are wrong. Included in the book are quotes from various Americans about this issue, and I was somewhat surprised by some of them. For instance, the great Frederick Douglas said, "No one idea has given rise to more opression and persecution toward the colored people of this country, than that which makes Africa, not America, their home. It is that wolfish idea that elbows us off the sidewalk, and denies us the rights of citizenship."

I firmly believe that this tribalist mentality is one of the foremost issues facing America today. We will not survive as a nation if we continue to separate ourselves along lines of race, ethnicity, or religion. As long as we view ourselves as Irish-Americans, Hispanic-Americans, or African-Americans, we will never be true Americans. And we will not view each other as fellow Americans, but as separate tribes that need to be guarded against. Is this the America that our founding fathers would have wanted?

As I stated earlier, I didn't find the book as compelling as I expected. Not that it's not good, but I felt the author could have gone further. All in all, it is a decent starting point for anyone interested in the subject of multi-culturalism.

still a spot on rendering of current immigration.......2005-12-11

I'll admit upfront...I haven't reread this in several years. But I remember the text 's main arguments as if it were last month. Nothing in the ensuing years has undercut Mr Sclesinger's main argument, and much has substantiated it. In fact...one has only to look at the recent riots in France to see that it isn't even a distinctly American phenomenon.

Immigrants now, no matter where they come from, and where they end up, seem not to leave their country of origin with any real desire to assimilate...only to live better with the least amount of cultural conciliation possible.

The main flaw in this book, looking backwards, is that he doesn't delve deeply enough into the real economic drivers of immigration today in his search for the reason why. As I remember, Schlesinger places the blame, if that's the correct term, upon a shift in immigration policies by the U.S. that favors family reunification (as well as a prevailing atmosphere of political correctness) The PC argument is the weakest line of argument., in my mind.

The real culprit in this very true depiction of balkinization within American (and Wester European) society, is the capitalist need for ever more sources of fresh, unskilled, undemanding, easily exploited labor, which will work for substantially less than the going rate and not ask for more, nor question the terms or conditions under which it is employed. By definition, this is an immigrant workforce.

That it is slow to "assimilate" is not hard to comprehend. It doesn't have to. Today's economic structure make's sure that such a transistion is both smooth and many years off into the future, More to the point, the economic forces which benefit from this class of immigrants have shown themselves very adept at passing along the costs of their captive workforce to society at large...in terms of prolonged bilingual education, public education in general for non-citizens, taxpayer subsidized health care for uninsured, undocumented workers, and lower prevailing wages,

I'm a died in the wool liberal...and many liberals took issue with this book. Too bad, really...but as the saying goes...the truth hurts. Read this book. Think about the bilingual education political fracus which shook California a decade and a half ago. This book speaks to that.

I was a Peace Corps Volunteer, not that anyone cares...but just to buttress my liberal credentials. I left the U.S. with one college semester of Spanish, and within three months I was conversant. How many of you know of someone who has lived here in the U.S. for more than a decade and can still hardly communicate in English?

That's what this book is about, on one level. The level in which prevailing economic forces prefer it that way is less explored, unfortunately. We no longer ask that you subscribe to the American dream...only that you accept a job at the Tyson chicken processing plant, and not make a fuss over either the wages nor the unsafe working conditions. If you can do that, plave your hand on this Bible and recite the oathe of allegiance the the United States of America....and be prepared for two political parties vying tooth and nail for your vote in the upcoming election.

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If you like Achebe, or care about indigenous literature
Long Live our blessed Statesman and elder
A Great Peice of Compact History
Insightful ramblings from the ascetic, Achebe
Home and Exile

Home and Exile
Chinua Achebe
Manufacturer: Anchor
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0385721331
Release Date: 2001-09-18

Amazon.com

Based on three lectures distinguished Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe gave at Harvard University in 1998, this short but trenchant work does not pretend to be a full-fledged autobiography. Instead, Achebe makes forceful use of his personal experiences to examine the political nature of culture. Born in 1930, the son of a Christian convert, young Achebe received a privileged colonial education and "was entranced by the far-away and long-ago worlds of the stories [in English books like Treasure Island and Ivanhoe], so different from the stories of my home and childhood." Yet he and fellow university students indignantly rejected Anglo-Irishman Joyce Cary's highly praised novel Mister Johnson, which bore no resemblance to their knowledge of Nigerian life. This encounter "call[ed] into question my childhood assumption of the innocence of stories," Achebe comments, using scathing assessments of white Kenyan writer Elspeth Huxley and Indian/Caribbean expatriate V.S. Naipaul to remind us that all literature reflects its creators' beliefs and prejudices. Achebe is not an enemy of Western culture; he merely asserts Africans' right to their own perspective and their own art, as exemplified in works like his groundbreaking 1958 novel, Things Fall Apart. Though blunt, his argument is tempered by humor and a passionate belief in "the curative power of stories." --Wendy Smith

Book Description

More personally revealing than anything Achebe has written, Home and Exile-the great Nigerian novelist's first book in more than ten years-is a major statement on the importance of stories as real sources of power, especially for those whose stories have traditionally been told by outsiders.

In three elegant essays, Achebe seeks to rescue African culture from narratives written about it by Europeans. Looking through the prism of his experiences as a student in English schools in Nigeria, he provides devastating examples of European cultural imperialism. He examines the impact that his novel Things Fall Apart had on efforts to reclaim Africa's story. And he argues for the importance of writing and living the African experience because, he believes, Africa needs stories told by Africans.

Customer Reviews:

If you like Achebe, or care about indigenous literature.......2004-10-05

Since the book is already well-summarized above, I'll just give my own reaction.

I've read a number of Achebe's novels and one essay (the excellent critique of Heart of Darkness) and really enjoyed the "backstage" feeling of hearing the author's first person voice - an insightful and kindly voice. For me, the effect of Achebe's strong positions is heightened by the dignified presentation, and of course by the poignant and funny stories from his own life that he uses to illustrate those positions. As compared to one of my other favorite authors, James Baldwin, Achebe's writing includes less calls to action, and more explanation. For instance, even in his sharp critique of Vidiadhar Naipaul's novels, Achebe's first priority is to shine light on the processes that led to Naipul's failures of vision. I think people who have read Achebe's fiction or essays and liked it, or generally care about literature from an indigenous or "Third World" perspective will really enjoy this short text. Definitely worth the cost, and may be available from the library.

Long Live our blessed Statesman and elder.......2001-11-01

Long live the proud son of Africa and our respected statesman.
Achebe the honest and truthful dispenser of both sides of the story. Colonial griots (to borrow Achebe's words) such as Elspeth Huxley and other apologists have for too long been left alone to justify the dispossession of precious lands and cultures. Until the proud son of Africa made them eat their own words and exposed them for what they are. Dishonest griots deftly laying the groundwork for self-enrichment at the expense of peace loving and decent Human Beings.
Chinua Achebe as exemplified by his few but precious books writes not to make money but only when he must say something useful. Unlike modern day "authors" who are more about money than substance. I have no doubt Achebe can write profound and moving accounts of African and world issues at the rate of one book a day but he chose only to spend his time teaching.
It is obvious why the Nobel Prize went to Wole Soyinka instead of Chinua Achebe. Achebe refuses to write for a "foreign" audience and does not take his marching orders from anybody. He is his own man. Africans and honest people all over the world have in their own ways given Achebe the best prize in the world.
Continuous interest in his worthwhile classics such as Things Fall Apart,The Man of the People,No longer at Ease,Anthills of the Savannah, Morning Yet on Creation Day,Hopes and Impediments and many others.

Home and Exile may be a small book but has enough three pence (from Achebes "somebody knock me down and have three pence!") to liberate nations and individuals from the grip and stench of colonial and racist apologia masquerading as literature.

Long live Achebe, proud son of Africa and citizen of the world.
To know Achebe (by reading his books) is to know how to be an unassuming and proud Human Being who quitely and calmly states his truth for the benefit of us all.

A Great Peice of Compact History.......2001-01-20

Achebe's work was informative, thought provocing, and at times amusing. His work is another example of how important it is for all people to tell their own story/history, especially people who were once disposessed. This little book inspired me to write a few ideas to prevent my experiences from being misinterpreted.

Insightful ramblings from the ascetic, Achebe.......2000-08-19

The physical brevity of Achebe's "autobiography" truly belies the intrisic wisdom he so effortlessly spews upon his listeners. Mr. Achebe sets out to deconstruct the manifold, post-colonial ills (endemic to the dispossessed of African diasopora) with the assistance of historical literature, creation fables, and his own personal memories. Indeed, a thought provoking manifesto for any fan of the great Achebe; one which will aid the reader to pursue further literature with a new sense of enlightenment.

Home and Exile.......2000-07-25

Excellent! Achebe has done it again. This is a must read!

Yoruba Warlords of the Nineteenth Century

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Yoruba Warlords of the Nineteenth Century
Toyin Falola , and Dare Oguntomisin
Manufacturer: Africa World Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 086543784X

Book Description

This is a pioneer book on the yoruba military generals of the 19th century covering their individual careers, military alliances and the consequences of their actions on the society. This book is divided into two parts. The first examines the life histories of the most distinguised among the Yoruba warriors. In the second sections, the authors examine some of the Yoruba warlords' diplomatic strategies and the enduring consequences of their action.

Breakdown and Reconstitution: Democracy, The Nation-State, and Ethnicity in Nigeria

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Breakdown and Reconstitution: Democracy, The Nation-State, and Ethnicity in Nigeria
Abu Bakarr Bah
Manufacturer: Lexington Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0739109545

Book Description

Breakdown and Reconstitution analyzes the synergy between democratization, nation-state building, and ethnicity in Nigeria as well as the challenges of transforming a post-colonial multiethnic state into a stable democracy. This work draws attention to the intrinsic relation between the breakdown of quasi-democracy and the reconstitution of a more inclusive democracy and nation-state. Breakdown and Reconstitution is an essential source for scholars of politics in Africa.

At Her Majesty's Request: An African Princess in Victorian England

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Interesting and easy to read.
Why Isn't Hollywood Calling???
Good book!
What I Think!
Poignant and Unlikely Story of African Princess

At Her Majesty's Request: An African Princess in Victorian England
Walter Dean Myers
Manufacturer: Scholastic Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0590486691

Amazon.com

Once there was a little girl--an orphaned African princess--who narrowly escaped death by human sacrifice in a West African village in 1850. A British sea captain named Frederick E. Forbes saved her life by talking King Gezo of Dahomey into giving the girl to Queen Victoria of England as a gift: "She would be a present from the King of the blacks to the Queen of the Whites." As impossible as this tale sounds, it is a true one. Award-winning author Walter Dean Myers--piecing together her story from letters he found in a rare book and ephemera shop in London--paints a hauntingly detached portrait of the small African princess whom the heroic captain named Sarah Forbes Bonetta.

We follow her charmed but unlucky life as the Queen's protégée through a succession of British middle-class households, beginning with the Forbes home. Because of her celebrated association and frequent visits with the Queen, Sarah grows up in an unusual position of privilege, education, and celebrity. On the flip side, she is keenly aware that her decisions are not her own, and as a rescued orphan under the Queen's protection, her life's path is dictated by those acting in what they perceive to be her best interests. It is hard not to feel that it was cruel of her protectors to wrench her (more than once in her life) from the adopted family she adores, and eventually to encourage her to marry a West African businessman whom she clearly stated she could never love, and who would take her away from her adopted country. As the epilogue states, "She was both unfortunate in her losses, and fortunate that those losses were not greater.... She seemed to find a measure of comfort wherever she was, but was destined to be apart from the world in which she lived." This story, rich with historic prints, photographs, newspaper clippings, excerpts from Queen Victoria's diary, and Sarah's letters, is both fascinating and tragic. We have Myers to thank for rescuing this fine woman again--this time from the forgotten shelf of a London bookstore. (Ages 11 and older)

Customer Reviews:

Interesting and easy to read........2006-07-13

My son had to pick two books off of a large list to read over the summer for school. After reading the other reviews of this book, we picked it. It was a wonderful choice. The book was very interesting, fast paced, well written and easy to read. I read it in 3 hours, and my son was able to read in in a few nights without any complaints of boredom.

Why Isn't Hollywood Calling???.......2001-09-08

If any literary giant needs to have his work adapted to film, it is Myers. As one of the premier writers of fiction for juveniles, the author has added another significant piece to his long line of classics. This one tells the story of a little-known African princess who comes under the wing of England's legendary Queen Victoria.

Not only does the book reveal the horrors of the African slave trade, the atrocities that some tyrants inflict on their enemies, and the class system that pervades much of a "civilized" society, it is a marvelous tale of a girl who overcomes such obstacles and becomes the darling of English society.

Although Sarah's life is brief, it is a memorable one as the character grows from frightened child to a loving mother.
I am recommending that all my students read this book as well as others by Myers. Now, if only someone in "Tinsel Town" would discover this fine author.

I'd much rather see his stories on the big screen than any about a teenaged wizard.

Good book!.......2001-02-18

I think this is a very well written book. I think that Walter Dean Myers is an amazing writer and that it is great he found this fantastic girl that many have never heard of.

What I Think!.......2001-02-07

The book, At Her Majesty's Request was the most wonderful book I've read because it tells the story of how Sarah Bonetta overcomed so many problems. First w/ the horror of watching her parents being killed, and then almost being sacrificed by the slave holders because of who she was and where she lived.Then when she was saved by a white man whom she couldn't even understand becase she spoke a different language.And then soon after that she learned how to speak english and then she became friends w/ the Queen of England, Queen Victoria.So the book to me was very heart-warming and I hope you love the book too! Go Wells Wolverines!

Poignant and Unlikely Story of African Princess.......2000-08-14

"At Her Majesty's Request: An African Princess in Victorian England" tells the life story of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, who was born an African Egbado princess, captured by rival Dohamans and taken to Dahomey to be murdered in a ritual sacrifice, rescued and adopted by a British naval captain, taken to England and presented to Queen Victoria, and raised under the Queen's protection in England and Sierra Leone. This handsome book is a very fine biography for young readers; it includes many excerpts from Sarah's letters and the Queen's diaries, as well as historic illustrations. Relevant information about 19th century West Africa and Britain (e.g., the Dahomey empire, the slave trade and British actions to end it, Christian missions in Africa, Sierra Leone, the British class system, women's place in society, etc.) is well presented. Although Sarah's story is interesting because of its uniqueness, much about the lives of ordinary 19th century West Africans and Europeans can be learned here. Despite the fact that there is little material concerning Sarah's life, the author has done a fine job and readers interested in Africa should be glad he did. The book contains a useful bibliography which includes "Dahomey and the Dahomans" (1851) by Frederick E. Forbes (the captain who rescued and adopted Sarah).

Book Description

Why black people suffer today
Why black people don't have money today
Why black people haven't travelled to the moon today
THIS is the reason why:
We were in our homeland, without troubles
We were minding our own business
Some people came from a faraway land
They fought us and took our land
They took our people as slaves and destroyed our towns
Our troubles started at that time

Our riches they took away to their land
In return they gave us their colony
They took our culture away from us
They gave us their culture which we don't understand
Black people, we don't know ourselves
We don't know our ancestral heritage
We fight each other every day
We are never together at all —
THAT is why black people suffer today

Musician, political critic, and hedonist, international superstar Fela Anikulapo-Kuti created a sensation throughout his career. In his own country of Nigeria he was simultaneously adulated and loathed, often by the same people at the same time. His outspoken political views and advocacy of marijuana smoking and sexual promiscuity offended many, even as his musical brilliance enthralled them. In his creation of afrobeat, he melded African traditions with African-American and Afro-Caribbean influences to revolutionize world music.

Although harassed, beaten, and jailed by Nigerian authorities, he continued his outspoken and derisive criticism of political corruption at home and economic exploitation from abroad. A volatile mixture of personal characteristics—charisma, musical talent, maverick lifestyle, populist ideology, and persistence in the face of persecution—made him a legend throughout Africa and the world. Celebrated during the 1970's as a musical innovator and spokesman for the continent's oppressed masses, he enjoyed worldwide celebrity during the 1980's and was recognized in the 1990's as a major pioneer and elder statesman of African music. By the time of his death in 1997 from AIDS-related complications, Fela had become something of a Nigerian institution.

In Africa, the idea of transnational alliance, once thought to be outmoded, has gained new currency. In African-America, during a period of increasing social conservatism and ethnic polarization, Africa has re-emerged as a symbol of cultural affirmation. At such a historical moment, Fela's music offers a perspective on race, class, and nation on both sides of the Atlantic. As Professor Veal demonstrates, over three decades Fela synthesized a unique musical language while also clearing—if only temporarily—a space for popular political dissent and a type of counter-cultural expression rarely seen in West Africa. In the midst of political turmoil in Africa, as well as renewal of pro-African cultural nationalism throughout the diaspora, Fela's political music functions as a post-colonial art form that uses cross-cultural exchange to voice a unique and powerful African essentialism.

Customer Reviews:

Great mix of enthusiasm and erudition.......2007-07-25

I have just finished this book and it was a thoroughly enjoyable and enlightening read. To be sure, this is an academic book, and it reads like one. But Veal is an excellent writer and his tone is appropriate for the depth he brings to his subject. This book takes the reader on a rich journey through about 50 years of African popular music. But it also does much more than that. I learned a huge amount about Fela's roots, the political background of his family, and the cultural and political backdrop of post-independence Nigeria. Since I am interested in African music and African culture, I read this book alongside Karl Meier's "This House Has Fallen" and they made perfect sense together. I really understood Fela as an embodiment of Nigeria's triumphs and tragedies.

The review by "spice-the-cat" leaves me baffled. It doesn't sound as if this reviewer has read the same book as the rest of us. Yes, Veal does take an admiring stance on Fela, but throughout the book he also takes Fela to task for all of his inconsistencies. There are several sections that examine the inconsistent and problematic aspects of Fela's behaviour toward women. Fela's poor treatment of his musicians is touched on several times. There is an entire chapter devoted to the theme of Fela's privileged origins, the de facto class advantage it gave him over the musicians, women and other members of his "Kalakuta" commune, and his abuse of this advantage. The physical "discipline" meted out to commune members is also chronicled several times (chapter five and seven), and again, Veal takes a clearly critical stance. Fela's relationship with the "magician" Professor Hindu is presented in a way that reveals it to be fraudulent and delusional. Veal's way of highlighting these points is not polemical or simplistically judgmental. He presents all of the available evidence, pro and con, and allows the reader to draw his/her own conclusions. I think this approach is appropriate for such a controversial, complex and hotly-contested figure as Fela. I agree with the other reviews on this site, all of which praise the book's objectivity.

As far as the academic tone of the book, I think it is great to have a topic in black/African popular music treated with the seriousness that it deserves. This ultimately does justice to the subject.

I urge anyone interested in African music to read this book!

Fela Deserves Better.......2007-06-30

I have mixed feelings about this book and while any book about Fela Kuti is to be welcomed, I don't think this is the definitive one and I do think that Fela's legacy deserves better.

There is no doubt that the author is probably the most well informed of all those who have written about this iconic figure, the man who was the most important musician ever to come out of Africa. The research is unquestionably thorough and there is as much detail as any admirer would wish to know. The problem, for me, is that any biographer should be invisible in the work he's writing. Michael Veal, unfortunately, isn't and at times his presence looms larger than the subject of his book.

Throughout the narrative there are long sections where the author writes an analysis of Fela and his relationship to the African experience. These passages are written in the most stilted and uncomfortable academic manner. The effect of this is to give the impression that the work is a cut and paste job between outside sources and one of the author's academic theses, an impression which renders the book an uncomfortable mix of good biography and dull collegiate essaying. There were times when reading these sections I wondered just what Fela would have made of this awkward literary style - and I suspect he would have been dismissive and written a song which parodied it.

The other fault with the book is the distinct lack of objectivity from the author. That Michael Veal is in awe of the man is not in doubt, but awe is not the best starting place for a biography. The dichotomy of the contrasting aspects of Fela's personality is acknowledged on many occasions, but there is absolutely no attempt to analyse the negative aspects of his character. There is no examination of how Fela's stance in representing the poor and downtrodden contrasts with his ill treatment of his band members, there is no analysis of how, later in life such a forceful personality came under the influence of such an obvious charlatan as Dr Hindu and there is no mention, whatsoever, of the violence and brutality meted out by Fela's own people to those who lived in his commune. Details of which are well documented by other authors and numerous journalists. A biography should look at all aspects of the subject's life and this one fails the reader with excessive bias and a lack of balance.

Michael Veal's involvement in maintaining interest in Fela and his music is to be welcomed. His active support in the ten years since the death of this icon and his involvement in facilitating the current availability of much of Fela's early, and more obscure work, is nothing short of admirable. Perhaps the final step would be a wholesale edit of this biography to produce a balanced and more readable work. Then, perhaps, we would have the definitive story of Fela Kuti.

Surprisingly Good.......2004-06-01

Fela was a true artist - a man committed to his music, who was intelligent and aware enough to see the disgrace of what his country had become. Despite beatings, arrests and the murder of his mother, he simply refused to remain silent about what was going on in Nigeria and Africa.

But if his music was merely okay, he'd be a footnote in music history. As it was, Fela produced some of the most challenging, abrasive, rhythmic and simply awesome music ever produced.

I thought that it would be impossible for a book to capture and explain this truly wild soul - but this one did a very good job. Amazingly, it began life as an academic paper. "Amazingly" because it is vibrant, detailed and completely entertaining.

A Masterpice on a Musical Icon.......2002-12-10

Michael - has managed to do what very authors have been able to do with Fela's Biography....lay down a balanced view point of the great but yet very complicated man. This book here caputres not just the actions but the Philosophy behind such actions. What i found very informative about this book is the amount of education I received on the History of African music - it kinda sets you on the right track to research more. Fela was no doubt a legend during and after his lifetime and Mr veal captured that well. I very good read - a must read for any african/african american youth.

Everybody Say YEAH YEAH!!.......2001-10-17

First I 'd like to thank Michael Veal for the work he did on this book. It is the best book I have read so far. My parents are Nigerian, however I have lived in the US all my life. I have always been a big fan of Fela (introduced to his music by my Dad), but never fully understood the reason he did some things he did, or some of his lyrics. Now I do. The book is really deep-rooted, cutting across all boudries, giving me an insight into Nigeria and the man called FELA in a way nobody has ever been able to. This book has changed my attitude towards life forever. May God bless Fela, and may he rest in peace forever!

Nigeria in Pictures (Visual Geography. Second Series)

Average customer rating:

Nigeria in Pictures (Visual Geography. Second Series)
Janice Hamilton
Manufacturer: Lerner Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Photography | Arts & Music | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

Africa | History & Historical Fiction | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0822503735

This House Has Fallen: Nigeria in Crisis

Average customer rating:

What "house?"....
Terrible
A Nice Book
A typical post colonial prejudice by a western journalist
You Are Welcome, Maier Cracks A Bit of Nigeria's Problems

This House Has Fallen: Nigeria in Crisis
Karl Maier
Manufacturer: Westview Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Economic Conditions | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Africa | History | Subjects | Books

Nigeria | Africa | History | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0813340454

Book Description

A journey into contemporary Africa's most powerful and most corrupt nation.

To understand Africa, one must understand Nigeria, and few Americans understand Nigeria better than Karl Maier. This House Has Fallen is a bracing and disturbing report on the state of Africa's most populous, potentially richest, and most dangerously dysfunctional nation.

Each year, with depressing consistency, Nigeria is declared the most corrupt state in the entire world. Though Nigeria is a nation into which billions of dollars of oil money flow, its per capita income has fallen dramatically in the past two decades. Military coup follows military coup. A bellwether for Africa, it is a country of rising ethnic tensions and falling standards of living, very possibly on the verge of utter collapse -- a collapse that could dramatically overshadow even the massacres in Rwanda.

A brilliant piece of reportage and travel writing, This House Has Fallen looks into the Nigerian abyss and comes away with insight, profound conclusions, and even some hope. Updated with a new preface by the author.

Customer Reviews:

What "house?"...........2007-04-20

..and "fallen" from what position? It's tough to fall further downwards when you start out underground. Want the point of this "tale?" Visit the 419 eater website. That will tell you all you need to know about just what Nigerians are all about. The national industry is composed of nothing but filthy thieves, liars and internet con-men/women. People speak of the "ruler" of Nigeria stealing from its citizens. Well pot, meet kettle. Boo-hoo, the "ruler" stole from the thieves. Stop the presses and alert the military! What a joke. Kind of like the incident wherein the drug addict telephones the police to report that the drug dealer took his $20 and didn't give him the crack he paid for. Conmen beget conmen and they are now lying in the bed they have made for themselves. Want to cry foul now? Do it elsewhere.

Terrible.......2005-05-21

I hated this book for a variety of reasons. First of all, no one who has any real appreciation of Nigeria's rich and diverse culture, history, literature, music, etc., will be even mildly convinced that this man knows the first thing about the people and the country about which he decided to write this wretched book.

You, the potential reader, may not know this, but at least you have me to tell you before you make the mistake of purchasing this book in the fraudulent belief that you will learn something from it. Maier seems obsessed with simply presenting Nigeria as a basketcase, despite the fact that he does not have a profound understanding of its people. No one like that should write a book like this.

Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe, two of Nigeria's most talented authors, have both written books extremely critical of Nigeria, but they did so from a position of knowledge, and it showed. Which is not to say that you have to be from Nigeria to write a book about the country. Certainly not. But presenting the nation out of context in such an unsympathetic way, with so little nuance, is not only poor scholarship, it's dangerous.

Nigeria has tremendous problems, but it also has amazing success stories, none of which made it into this book. There are stories demonstrating the remarkable ingenuity, entrepreneurship and dilligence of Nigerian men and women under the hardest circumstances. It's a nation with great art, great literature, great music, a great sense of humor, not to mention thousands of years of history, and some of Africa's longest lasting and most interesting kingdoms and cultures.

But, you would definitely not know that reading this book, because all you are presented with is a bunch of miserable information. How would one expect readers to become interested in such a place? I'm not suggesting that Nigeria's very real problems be ignored, far from it. I'm only saying that a national portrait of political and moral collapse should at least show that the nation in question ALSO has remarkable talent, also has some of the funniest, warmest, and most resilient people you'll ever meet, also has a fascinating history, is diverse, and has complex historical reasons for so many of its problems. The book doesn't really explain how colonialism or modern financial interests and corporate interest might play into that. Or, why corrupt leaders come to power. What's the dynamic there? Why does this happen? The book doesn't deign to attempt answer such questions. Why? I have no idea. It just tells us that it's a corrupt country, and that we should care because it has oil, and a hundred million people.

I really think the world would be a better place if uninformed people stopped writing pessimistic drivel that further defames a continent which needs defenders, not detractors. I can't believe I bought this book, and own it.

A Nice Book.......2005-01-30

A nice book that touches on key aspects of Nigerian society. For a foreigner, Mr. Maier does a nice job in writing about the diverse ethnic groups that make up Nigeria. However, I have chosen to rate this book with three stars for the following reasons:

At some point in time, I got the feeling I was reading a newspaper. Being well versed and current with affairs in Nigeria, I found most of the stories recounted by Mr. Maier to be very familiar. What Mr. Maier failed to do was provide significant in-depth analysis into the problems besetting modern day Nigeria, or better still, present likely solutions to some of these problems from his point of view.

There are quite a few typographical errors in the book. I also disagree with a historical event stated. This has to do with the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914. Mr. Maier says it was done because Northern Nigeria was running a deficit, while the South was economically sustainable. This is definitely not true. The Northern and Southern protectorates were merged to form Nigeria in 1914 to serve the interests of the British Empire. Mineral resources obtained in the North were shipped to ports in the South to be sent to Britain. It made economic sense to Britain and had nothing to do with deficits or the economic state of the Northern and Southern colonies.

Generally, it is a very good book and one that touches on several aspects of modern Nigerian society in its 300 or so pages. It is definitely worth the read if you are interested in understanding the complexity and diversity of Nigerian society as well as its history, economic state and recent return to a democratic system of government.

A typical post colonial prejudice by a western journalist.......2004-10-08

It took me some time to get a copy of this book from a friend to read. But after reading it, I was glad not to have a copy myself. It is not that the contents of the book do not correspond with the nigerian situation, but the total lack of objectivity in the book. Maier clearly shows that he is among those we hear are paid to promote and justify the exercise of colonialism in Africa: that africans can not rule themselves. If Nigeria as a house has fallen, then it is due to the wrong foundation upon which the house was built which was the British mess and exploitation. Where Maier tried to remember that there was no nation like Nigeria before colonialism, he avoided telling the truth of the emergence of Nigeria as a consequence of British selfishness. For example, he mentioned that Nigeria had a great agricultural potentials in products such a palm oil and so many things, but quickly added these were exported to England and "inturn Nigeria got millions of tones of cosmetics and gins". Or where he slightly mentioned the activities of oil firms like the royal dutsch/shell in Nigeria, the environmental harzards are not taken note of. For God's sake why could he not tell us the truth that the aim of colonialsm was primarily for the need of his sponsors. Or when he metioned the amalgmation of north and south of Nigeria and termed it "for the purpose reducing deficit of the north", was the aim not to enhance more agricultural opportunities for the great Britian. It was on this bad foundation that ethnic kingdoms like the Igala, Yoruba, Benin and many others who had a very effective leadership and administrative autonomy were forced and forged into the nationhood of Nigeria which even became a problem before the exit of the foolish masters-maier's ancestors. Thank God, people like Alan Burns, a one time Birtish governor in Nigeria still live to write the truth: "Those Europeans who were interested in one protectorate knew little of the other, and wasted no sympathy on their neighbours, while among the inhabitants of the country the lack of uniform system of government had already accentuated the already existing difference of race, religion and culture" (Alan Burns: History of Nigeria,London, 1969. Pg. 11). I would wish that Maeir make out time to reason why he needs to blame his motherland for the many attrocities committed in Nigeria and africa as a whole of which the present situations are hangovers. I could have better not read this monographs of journalistic nonsense called a book on Nigeria, and would never recommend it to any objective mind.

You Are Welcome, Maier Cracks A Bit of Nigeria's Problems.......2004-06-16

Living in Nigeria leaves one drained, confused and fascinated. Nigeria is like watching a car crash every day; you cannot help but to watch despite the blood and carnage. Mr. Maier's lively account of daily scences in Nigeria is a accessible read for anyone, even those who never set foot in Nigeria or could care less about Africa's problems. A case in point is Maier's visit to former military President Babangida. The President sat in his chalet a few hours drive from Nigeria's capital Abuja, charming, sly, friendly and happy with the billions of dollars he stold from the Nigerian people. In fact, Babangida is set to make another run for President in 2007. Maier allows the former President to talk and expose the underbelly of most Nigerian leaders, avarice, self-righteousness and the ability to buy people off with the money taken from government coffers. In fact, be it Obasanjo, Abacha, Buhari or any other military leader or newly minted democratic leaders, they are all the same people, in the same big seats, stealing the same people and country blind. Sad, but Nigeria. Maier allows the reader in to see Nigeria from Abuja to Minna to Lagos; it is a great read and essential for anyone coming to Nigeria.

Customer Reviews:

i never read the book but i want to know more about it.......1999-10-28

i want to know more about the book first before i can give any comment. i am in canada and i want to get the book how am i going to get it? is there a way that i can get it i read efuru and i just find out that she has wrote another one, and i want the new one can some please tell me how i can get it.

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