Chinua Achebe, 1930 - 2013 ~ Things Fall Apart

Nigerian author Chinua Achebe has died.  His 1958 novel Things Fall Apart introduced a changing Africa to the world, The novel has sold more than ten million copies in fifty different languages.  Nelson Mandela called Achebe, "the writer in whose company the prison walls came down."

Using W. B. Yeats words “Things fall apart, the center cannot hold, Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,” Achebe showed the falling apart of Africa while revealing the universality of humans in all times and places. Things Fall Apart is the story of Igbo warrior Okonkwo and life in an Igbo village in the late 19^th century when the white men arrived.  While the novel is completely African, it speaks to all people especially in light of the last hundred years. 

If you haven’t read Things Fall Apart, honor Mr. Achebe’s memory and read it today.  Choose it for your book club for a spirited discussion. It's impossible to be culturally literate without reading this book.