Chris Abani is that rare gift to the world -- someone who was born a writer and who suffered great atrocity. He has combined these two facts to bring back poetry from hell -- poetry that sings! that grieves! that laughs and rocks and wails! He breaks down walls and brings forth unimaginable pain only to lay it before you -- gracefilled and beating like an undeniable human heart. Here it is, he says, here is humanity in all its grand perversion and its unmistakable diginity and hope. I was lucky enough to see Abani read and he is someone who is in this closed off world who is out there sharing, must share, and he makes the world a better place by doing so. Let's only hope the world gives back to him now, finally, the rich fruits of kindness and love and understanding that he deserves! And he plays a mean sax too!!!

This book is a stunning achievement. I went from poem to poem in amazement at this writers ability to capture those moments of horror he endured as a political prisoner and transform them. Like Yeats said "a terrible beauty is born"

This is a splendid example of the poetry of witness and I think it belongs in the company of Akhmatova's Requiem. When she was asked "Can you describe all this/and I said I can".

That is what this writer did, with words of power and grace, that will linger in anyone's head. It is fortunate to come upon them.

The poems on London filled me with longing for that city one never tires of.

Buy this book. It will change your life.

Abani's book left me speechless. At the horror. The pain and the inhumanity of other people.

It also left me speechless with regard to myself. It reminded me of what is important in life and how important it is, at whatever level, to do the right thing, no matter how difficult.

The poet's tale of incaceration for his writing in Nigeria's old regimes is a humbling one. It is also an inspiring one. No other book in the last ten years has moved me as much.

The poems are beautifully balanced pieces with a clear narrative. The Language, while simple, achieves a complex poetic form - the rendering of life into words.

This book is a must read!!!!

One of the Most Brilliant Writers of the Orisha of modern day, Awo William Bascom has written some of the greatest books of Orisha and Yoruba Religion and Spirituality of our times. All of his books are destined to be classic in Orisha Literature.

16 Cowries as all his books are a must have for all young babalorishas and iyalorishas, and for the young Iyawo ask your godparents what there opinion is on this book, and I am sure you will get a good response. Of the few books of Merinndilloggun this has to be the best, in fact all of Awo Bascoms books blow away all the other books on the same subject. I highly recommend all the young Aborishas, and Iyawo, to check out his works. They are all a wealth of information and should be in every ones Library. Awo William Bascom has written some of the best books of Orisha Spirituality.

El libro contiene una información increible sobre el facinante mundo de la interpretación de los caracoles. Es muy complejo para un principiante; pero para el que desea realmente información como practicante de La Religión este libro es invaluable.

Once again Awo William Bascom will live forever. This book is an excellent book to help facilitate the learning of Eerindinlogun(Cowrie Divination)system.It is LOADED with information that the non-practioner,Awo's,Babalorisha,Iyalorisha,and even Babalawos would appreciate.

Buy this book for the illustrations. They're spectacular. You'll want to frame each one and hang them on your wall. Of just leave it on your coffee table for people to ohh and ahh over.
For anyone who can't afford an original Carla Golembe -- she's a famous artist who exhibts in Mass. and Maryland -- this is the next best thing.

I find myself struggling to get my daughter to eat foods good for her body and read books good for her mind. This book accomplished what I wanted -- it teaches about a different culture, taking care of the environment, and how greed leads to punishment. It did this with an entertaining story and beautiful pictures, fully deserving it's prominent place on my daughter's bookshelf.

Why the sky is far away is a great story that teaches important ecological and moral values in a fun way. The illustrations are amazing and the story is delightful.

Mr. Forsyth in this book became the voice of millions of suffering Biafrans whose sin was a determination to exist against all odds.

His analysis captured the brutality of the Nigerian soldiers while the rest of the world fell victim to the deceit of the pronouncements of the Commander of the Nigerian Armed Forces...General Yakubu Gowon.

Forsyth is known for his later works the "Day of the Jackal", "Odessa File" and "Dogs of War". This though is his first book and in many ways superior to the rest.

A non-fiction detailed description of the Biafran war, Forsyth pulls no punches describing the valiant but fruitless fight by the Ibo tribe to secede from Nigeria. Outnumbered, outgunned and out financed by the central government, the Ibo finally fell because of the support of the European powers for Nigeria.

Forsyth does a wonderful job in giving us a journalist eye view of the conflict which eventually became known more for the starvation of hundreds of thousands of Ibo. A long forgotten classic that has never been outdone by his later novels.

Mr. Jacobs captures the lies and deceit that Nation states engage in when resource control is the objective. In this case..oil. The sad part is that the material costs in human lives is unforgivable.

We tend to remember Vietnam as the defining event of the late 60's and early 70's, but Biafra was and is ultimately more heartbreaking to contemplate, because it is nearly forgotten, even though millions died. Jacobs tells a story of valor and treachery, of relief pilots and aid workers who risked death everyday so that they could bring medicine and food into the oil-rich Biafran separatist enclave, which was completely surrounded by a huge and vengeful, British-backed Nigerian military machine bent on the Biafrans' extinction.

The book is detailed but doesn't plod, and we follow along as an ethnic pogrom festers into a civil war, and ultimately a holocaust. Along the way, all the vaunted fail-safes of our modern world, from the U.N., to the Red Cross, to the liberal governments of the U.S. and the U.K., actually aid and abet the Nigerians, and exacerbate the Biafrans' plight and prolong their agony. The U.S.S.R., long falsely seen as an anti-imperialist engine for African liberation, cynically plays its hand as cruelly as anyone else, providing military and technical assistance to the Federal Government of Nigeria whenever the West loses their stomach for it.

When millions are dead, and so many are culpable, one feels it's unfair to assign blame to any single party, but blame must be assigned. Everyone's responsible, all the way back to the imperialists who so ineptly drew the borders of what were to emerge as completely unworkable national entities. Perhaps "state failure" in Africa will ultimately be the force which credibly redraws the boundaries, but in Nigeria's case, that will only happen when the oil runs out. And Lord how high the cost will be.

This is an impressive collection of short stories that covers a twenty-year period of Achebe's writing. They also cover a period of history in his native Nigeria that spans from the late colonial period to the Biafran war. In them Achebe explores various aspects of a predominant theme in his work, i.e. tradition vs. modernism in his country (as introduced by British colonial administration). The various stories offer glimpses into the lives of people from various classes and walks of life. Achebe has a concise and eloquent writing style; he has an almost singular talent for making very pertinent observations in an extremely pithy fashion. Thus, for example, in the few pages of a story like "Dead Man's Path," Achebe brings to life the problems which ensue from the drive for quick modernization, the desire to adhere to tradition and the hypocrisy of Nigeria's colonial administrators. Also impressive is Achebe's mastery of narrative styles, i.e. first person, omiscient, etc. These stories can be read on their own, or as a supplement to Achebe's similarly powerful novels.

Achebe has proven, once again, that he is one of our true masters. The Nigerian writer has chronicled his people's struggles, passions, idiosyncrasies and vices for a half century. In Girls at War (1991) Achebe continues to accomplish something remarkable--he writes a geo-political novel that is not didactic and a topical novel that is personal and humane. In this, his work resembles that of Graham Greene, although Achebe might not altogether appreciate the comparison. In the title story, we find a microcosm of the collection. By exploring the details of a few ordinary people--caught in wartorn Nigeria--we discover the human stories beneath the national, and global, machinery of modern warfare. By revealing to us the role of women and children in our new wars, Achebe also reveals the fear, culpability and pathos that lurks within everyone regardless of age, gender or nationality.

This young author explodes onto the scene with this debut novel! Not only is it well-written, but the characters are extremely well-developed. Although I am not of African descent, I could relate to many of the themes in the novel. The book trancends ethnicity -- and gender as well. Nkem is a wonderful character and Ms. Onyejekwe looks to be one of the budding, hot, young Black female writers -- young writers period!

I am utterly impressed with the quality of Ms. Onyejekwe's work. She has written a story with a very central and universal theme. Although I am not from Nigeria, I can relate to the environment and traditons she narrates so well. I still wonder why many cultures are slow to appreciate the female child - without them, we would have no mothers to raise the world.

This book uses the life of its main characters to tell an emotionally captivating story that crosses over oceans and continents. I recommend it for anyone who believes in freedom.

Foolish Shadusa thinks he's the strongest man in the world and orders his wife to call him "master man". But his wise wife warns him: "Quit your foolish boasting. No matter how strong your are, there will always be someone stronger. And watch out, or someday you may meet him." But Shadusa doesn't listen and when he hears that another man in a nearby village also calls himself "master man", he sets off to confront this imposter and ends up learning his lesson the hard way..... Aaron Shepard and award winning illustrator, David Wisniewski have authored an inspired and creative version of this old Nigerian folktale. The story, told in comic book format, complete with dialogue bubbles, is full of expressive, action packed scenes and colorful, detailed collage artwork that becomes busier and bolder until it almost spills off the pages. The book includes an author's note at the end and youngsters will enjoy learning about the origins and history of this folktale. Perfect for children 4-8, Master Man is a terrific read-aloud story the whole family can share and will make a wonderful addition to all home libraries.

This book was really funny! The illustrations were really creative. The words are put right on the illustrations like a comic book so you feel really involved. I like tall tales, and this one is exceptional. The characters are very entertaining and they reminded me of people I know. Everyone should read Master Man -- even grownups!

This story will go down in history - have the courage to read this book and pass it on.

RJS

This is a classic text that chronicles the degrading and dehumanizing process of intimidation of by a dictatorial regime embedded in repressive antics and deviously blood-thirsty. This book comes from the lived experience of Ken Saro-Wiwa, Nigeria's foremost environmentalist and literary writer. He, it was who led his Ogoni people to challenge the environmental degradation of their environment by the Anglo-Dutch Shell corporation through gas flaring, oil spillage and soil degeneration, and the exploiting gimmicks of a militarized centralist and thievery regime. In this work Saro-Wiwa, chronicles his role,in the evolution of the history of the struggles for relevance and records the methods of organization and mobilization of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (MOSOP)into a vibrant, virulently vocal and highly feared movement. This work derived from the author's contact with the evil of human authority, hence it is a direct a product of his experiences with the malevolent human-evil-forces that were unlynched against him and the struggle. The expereinces reminisced here is just one of his many in the series of unwarranted detentions in the hand of the evil regimes of Ibrahim Babangida and Sani Abacha in unkempt cells of the Nigerian security apparatus in different cities of Nigeria. On another occassion- the detention from which he smuggled this book out to be printed- he would not come out alive. He would be "judicially murdered" by the junta whose guns were brought by the sweat of humble and victimized tax-payers like Ken- representative of repressed Nigerians- and from the money derived from oil that springs from underneath his Niger-Delta homeland-including his Ogoni group. Ken did not leave out the Nigerian Police and their inhumanity- dogs who devour the flesh of other dogs- in fact they act like "vulture." A loaded term in Ogoni parlance! This work goes to show the plight of minorities within such colonial contraptions as the Nigerian nation state, under the dominating rule of a northern hegemony and a limited military clique in collaboration with their favor and fund-questing (fat-bellied) civilian cronies. This goes to further prove the fact that colonialism subjugated many ethnic groups under a contraption that was never dialogued nor radically sanctioned.Is it any surprise that Somali, Rwanda, Burundi, Zaire, Sierra Leone have gone on ruptured by the thunders of machine guns! In this vein the book brings to the fore the problem of such political hypocrisy as such as the overtly caricatured Federalism which is practiced by the Nigerian government. In a way Ken Saro-Wiwa, credenced the fact that all ethnic nationalities must radically be allowed to shape their destiny and control their resources. Further, this book reveals the filthy environmental practices of the multinationals who without regards to safety measures and ecological ethics endanger the lives of people in the orgy for profit-making. Profit-making predominates in the psyche of the multinations in deterrence for the sanctity of the human life! Double business and ethical standards-one for Africa another for the West- in fact Ken calls this "environmental racism." This book is a resplendent classic, and it is essentially valuable for all those who want to educate themselves on one of the most forceful and feared Social, ethnic and environmental movements that has arisen in post-colonial Africa today. In fact, the book goes to show the courageous fights of minorities and social movements towards advocating and ensuring changes. Ken Saro-Wiwa its author was crudely exterminated with eight others on a farce of a trial- a militarized set-up tribunal of the despised tyrannt of Sani Abacha in 1995. Saro-Wiwa is dead but remains a living-dead, an ancestor of a sort for the many social movements that revolves around emphasizing rural development and sound environmental norms and sanctity for the community where companies are located that are emerging in Nigeria today, and it would not be an overstatement to add Africa. His ideas and views radiates and takes on flesh in this little book. Buy one today, read and digest it and realize what a portent book it is, and know why the author was most few by a modern day dictator, who feared men and women of ideas than he feared the men and women who hold the guns! Happy reading! Bon voyage!

Fairy-tales? Hah! See if your kid will go to sleep after hearing one of Tutuola's mad hallucinatory (not my word) yarns.

A seldom-discussed aspect of cultural anthropology is the metamorphosis of our fairy-tales--the imaginative currency of early youth which are passed on through family and social structures alike. In America, characters like witches, ghosts, and other creatures have their genesis in Europe, or can be traced even further back to ancient Indo-European cultures (of course, we have our own indigenous tales as well). These characters and stories have become so diluted over the years, that they've lost a lot of their original cultural meaning or relevance. What does this have to do with Amos Tutuola?

"My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" and "The Palm Wine Drinkard" are African tales in their pure unadulterated form. And they're not something you'd want to hear before bedtime! Amos Tutuola writes an English which lends the narration a wide-eyed, almost childlike voice--yet in the face of wild, horrific imagery (eg. armies of dead babies) the words are unflinching.

Tutuola is not for everybody, but for the adventurous reader I could not recommend this highly enough.

What an experience. Accompanying the narrator, "Father of the gods who can do everything in this world," the reader escapes the difference between real or unreal, into where the two are the same. A book like none other i've ever come near, and i am not sure what i'd do if i did. There is no explanation, no need, just a story: creatures, trees, an alive bush, walking backward deads, menacing babies - one of which explodes from a thumb, trees within which lives "Faithful mother" who is faithful to all things - alive and dead, an egg that grants all wishes, much dancing, much music... So many things. This book is required reading for especially this, but every other, generation, for all "races" of folks, a book for which there can be no substitute. Purchase it, check out your local library, whatever, just read it. Then reread it.

Since 1980, when I was only 16, I have not read a book as fantastic as this one. Its pages are so dense you may even spend hours through one single paragraph in order to feel all images created by the author and taste all its delicate and, at the same time, intricate constructions. A book I will never forget.