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There Was a Country

A Memoir

Author Chinua Achebe
Paperback
$18.00 US
Penguin Adult HC/TR | Penguin Books
On sale Sep 24, 2013 | 352 Pages | 978-0-14-312403-0
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  • English > Comparative Literature: African > African Literature
  • History > Period History: Africa > Post-Independence Africa (Mid-20th Century - Present)
  • History > Regional History: Africa > Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African History
  • Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African Literature and Drama
  • Interdisciplinary Studies > Race and Ethnic Studies > African Studies
  • Political Science > Comparative Politics > African Politics
  • Political Science > International Relations > Human Rights
  • Political Science > International Relations > International Conflict / Security
  • About
  • Excerpt
  • Author
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.
An Igbo proverb tells us that a man who does not know where the rain began to beat him cannot say where he dried his body.

The rain that beat Africa began four to five hundred years ago, from the “discovery” of Africa by Europe, through the transatlantic slave trade to the Berlin Conference of 1885. That controversial gathering of the world’s leading European powers precipitated what we now call the Scramble for Africa, which created new boundaries that did violence to Africa’s ancient societies and resulted in tension-prone modern states. It took place without African consultation or representation, to say the least.

Great Britain was handed the area of West Africa that would later become Nigeria, like a piece of chocolate cake at a birthday party. It was one of the most populous regions on the African continent, with over 250 ethnic groups and distinct languages. The northern part of the country was the seat of several ancient kingdoms, such as the Kanem-Bornu—which Usman dan Fodio and his jihadists absorbed into the Muslim Fulani Empire. The Middle Belt of Nigeria was the locus of the glorious Nok Kingdom and its world-renowned terra-cotta sculptures. The southern protectorate was home to some of the region’s most sophisticated civilizations. In the west, the Oyo and Ife kingdoms once flourished majestically, and in the midwest the incomparable Benin Kingdom elevated artistic distinction to a new level. Across the Niger River in the East, the Calabar and the Nri kingdoms flourished. If the Berlin Conference sealed her fate, then the amalgamation of the southern and northern protectorates inextricably complicated Nigeria’s destiny. Animists, Muslims, and Christians alike were held together by a delicate, some say artificial, lattice.

Britain’s indirect rule was a great success in northern and western Nigeria, where affairs of state within this new dispensation continued as had been the case for centuries, with one exception—there was a new sovereign, Great Britain, to whom all vassals pledged fealty and into whose coffers all taxes were paid. Indirect rule in Igbo land proved far more challenging to implement. Colonial rule functioned through a newly created and incongruous establishment of “warrant chiefs”—a deeply flawed arrangement that effectively confused and corrupted the Igbo democratic spirit.

Africa’s postcolonial disposition is the result of a people who have lost the habit of ruling themselves. We have also had difficulty running the new systems foisted upon us at the dawn of independence by “our colonial masters.” Because the West has had a long but uneven engagement with the continent, it is imperative that it understands what happened to Africa. It must also play a part in the solution. A meaningful solution will require the goodwill and concerted efforts on the part of all those who share the weight of Africa’s historical burden.

Most members of my generation, who were born before Nigeria’s independence, remember a time when things were very different. Nigeria was once a land of great hope and progress, a nation with immense resources at its disposal—natural resources, yes, but even more so, human resources. But the Biafran war changed the course of Nigeria. In my view it was a cataclysmic experience that changed the history of Africa.

It is for the sake of the future of Nigeria, for our children and grandchildren, that I feel it is important to tell Nigeria’s story, Biafra’s story, our story, my story.
Copyright © 2012 by Achebe, Chinua. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
© Don Hamerman
Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. His first novel, Things Falls Apart, became a classic of international literature and required reading for students worldwide. He also authored four subsequent novels, two short-story collections, and numerous other books. He was the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University and, for more than 15 years, was the Charles P. Stevenson Jr. Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard College. In 2007, Achebe was awarded the Man Booker International Prize for lifetime achievement. He died in 2013. View titles by Chinua Achebe

About

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.

Excerpt

An Igbo proverb tells us that a man who does not know where the rain began to beat him cannot say where he dried his body.

The rain that beat Africa began four to five hundred years ago, from the “discovery” of Africa by Europe, through the transatlantic slave trade to the Berlin Conference of 1885. That controversial gathering of the world’s leading European powers precipitated what we now call the Scramble for Africa, which created new boundaries that did violence to Africa’s ancient societies and resulted in tension-prone modern states. It took place without African consultation or representation, to say the least.

Great Britain was handed the area of West Africa that would later become Nigeria, like a piece of chocolate cake at a birthday party. It was one of the most populous regions on the African continent, with over 250 ethnic groups and distinct languages. The northern part of the country was the seat of several ancient kingdoms, such as the Kanem-Bornu—which Usman dan Fodio and his jihadists absorbed into the Muslim Fulani Empire. The Middle Belt of Nigeria was the locus of the glorious Nok Kingdom and its world-renowned terra-cotta sculptures. The southern protectorate was home to some of the region’s most sophisticated civilizations. In the west, the Oyo and Ife kingdoms once flourished majestically, and in the midwest the incomparable Benin Kingdom elevated artistic distinction to a new level. Across the Niger River in the East, the Calabar and the Nri kingdoms flourished. If the Berlin Conference sealed her fate, then the amalgamation of the southern and northern protectorates inextricably complicated Nigeria’s destiny. Animists, Muslims, and Christians alike were held together by a delicate, some say artificial, lattice.

Britain’s indirect rule was a great success in northern and western Nigeria, where affairs of state within this new dispensation continued as had been the case for centuries, with one exception—there was a new sovereign, Great Britain, to whom all vassals pledged fealty and into whose coffers all taxes were paid. Indirect rule in Igbo land proved far more challenging to implement. Colonial rule functioned through a newly created and incongruous establishment of “warrant chiefs”—a deeply flawed arrangement that effectively confused and corrupted the Igbo democratic spirit.

Africa’s postcolonial disposition is the result of a people who have lost the habit of ruling themselves. We have also had difficulty running the new systems foisted upon us at the dawn of independence by “our colonial masters.” Because the West has had a long but uneven engagement with the continent, it is imperative that it understands what happened to Africa. It must also play a part in the solution. A meaningful solution will require the goodwill and concerted efforts on the part of all those who share the weight of Africa’s historical burden.

Most members of my generation, who were born before Nigeria’s independence, remember a time when things were very different. Nigeria was once a land of great hope and progress, a nation with immense resources at its disposal—natural resources, yes, but even more so, human resources. But the Biafran war changed the course of Nigeria. In my view it was a cataclysmic experience that changed the history of Africa.

It is for the sake of the future of Nigeria, for our children and grandchildren, that I feel it is important to tell Nigeria’s story, Biafra’s story, our story, my story.
Copyright © 2012 by Achebe, Chinua. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Author

© Don Hamerman
Chinua Achebe was born in Nigeria in 1930. His first novel, Things Falls Apart, became a classic of international literature and required reading for students worldwide. He also authored four subsequent novels, two short-story collections, and numerous other books. He was the David and Marianna Fisher University Professor and Professor of Africana Studies at Brown University and, for more than 15 years, was the Charles P. Stevenson Jr. Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard College. In 2007, Achebe was awarded the Man Booker International Prize for lifetime achievement. He died in 2013. View titles by Chinua Achebe

Additional formats

  • There Was a Country
    There Was a Country
    A Personal History of Biafra
    Chinua Achebe
    978-1-101-57937-4
    $17.50 US
    Audiobook Download
    Penguin Audio
    Oct 11, 2012
  • There Was a Country
    There Was a Country
    A Memoir
    Chinua Achebe
    978-1-101-59598-5
    $14.99 US
    Ebook
    Penguin Books
    Oct 11, 2012
  • There Was a Country
    There Was a Country
    A Personal History of Biafra
    Chinua Achebe
    978-1-59420-482-1
    $27.95 US
    Hardcover
    Penguin Press
    Oct 11, 2012
  • There Was a Country
    There Was a Country
    A Personal History of Biafra
    Chinua Achebe
    978-1-101-57937-4
    $17.50 US
    Audiobook Download
    Penguin Audio
    Oct 11, 2012
  • There Was a Country
    There Was a Country
    A Memoir
    Chinua Achebe
    978-1-101-59598-5
    $14.99 US
    Ebook
    Penguin Books
    Oct 11, 2012
  • There Was a Country
    There Was a Country
    A Personal History of Biafra
    Chinua Achebe
    978-1-59420-482-1
    $27.95 US
    Hardcover
    Penguin Press
    Oct 11, 2012

Other Books by this Author

  • The African Trilogy
    The African Trilogy
    Things Fall Apart; Arrow of God; No Longer at Ease
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-14-313134-2
    $25.00 US
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  • Arrow of God
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  • A Man of the People
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  • Chike and the River
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  • The Education of a British-Protected Child
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  • Collected Poems
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    Aug 10, 2004
  • Home and Exile
    Home and Exile
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    978-0-385-72133-2
    $14.00 US
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    Sep 18, 2001
  • Anthills of the Savannah
    Anthills of the Savannah
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    978-0-385-26045-9
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    Penguin Books
    Feb 04, 1997
  • Things Fall Apart
    Things Fall Apart
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    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-679-44623-1
    $25.00 US
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    Everyman's Library
    Oct 17, 1995
  • No Longer at Ease
    No Longer at Ease
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-385-47455-9
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Sep 16, 1994
  • Things Fall Apart
    Things Fall Apart
    A Novel
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-385-47454-2
    $14.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Sep 01, 1994
  • Girls at War
    Girls at War
    And Other Stories
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-385-41896-6
    $14.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Aug 01, 1991
  • Hopes and Impediments
    Hopes and Impediments
    Selected Essays
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-385-41479-1
    $14.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Sep 01, 1990
  • The African Trilogy
    The African Trilogy
    Things Fall Apart; Arrow of God; No Longer at Ease
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-14-313134-2
    $25.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Classics
    May 02, 2017
  • Arrow of God
    Arrow of God
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-385-01480-9
    $16.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Aug 16, 2016
  • A Man of the People
    A Man of the People
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-385-08616-5
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Aug 16, 2016
  • Chike and the River
    Chike and the River
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-307-47386-8
    $14.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Aug 09, 2011
  • The Education of a British-Protected Child
    The Education of a British-Protected Child
    Essays
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-307-47367-7
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Oct 05, 2010
  • The African Trilogy
    The African Trilogy
    Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, and Arrow of God; Introduction by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-307-59270-5
    $30.00 US
    Hardcover
    Everyman's Library
    Jan 05, 2010
  • Collected Poems
    Collected Poems
    Chinua Achebe
    978-1-4000-7658-1
    $14.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Aug 10, 2004
  • Home and Exile
    Home and Exile
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-385-72133-2
    $14.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Sep 18, 2001
  • Anthills of the Savannah
    Anthills of the Savannah
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-385-26045-9
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Feb 04, 1997
  • Things Fall Apart
    Things Fall Apart
    Introduction by Kwame Anthony Appiah
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-679-44623-1
    $25.00 US
    Hardcover
    Everyman's Library
    Oct 17, 1995
  • No Longer at Ease
    No Longer at Ease
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-385-47455-9
    $15.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Sep 16, 1994
  • Things Fall Apart
    Things Fall Apart
    A Novel
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-385-47454-2
    $14.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Sep 01, 1994
  • Girls at War
    Girls at War
    And Other Stories
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-385-41896-6
    $14.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Aug 01, 1991
  • Hopes and Impediments
    Hopes and Impediments
    Selected Essays
    Chinua Achebe
    978-0-385-41479-1
    $14.00 US
    Paperback
    Penguin Books
    Sep 01, 1990
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