Anthills of the Savannah

Winner of the Man Booker International Prize
A New York Times Book Review Notable Book

Using the conflict between city and tribal villages, the ravages of the great African drought and Third World politics as a compelling backdrop, Achebe weaves a potent drama of modern Africa. This novel describes power politics in an imaginary West African country, Kangan, 'where a military coup has brought to prominence a Sandhurst-trained officer ill-prepared for political leadership. Before long 'His Excellency' transforms his initial insecurity into paranoid despotism, suspecting even well-meaning allies of disloyalty. This becomes the fate of his two boyhood friends, Chris Oriko, Commissioner for Information, and Ikem Osodi, poet and editor of a national newspaper, who in different ways both refuse to play safe by compromising.'