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THE EDUCATION OF A BRITISH-PROTECTED CHILD
By: Chinua Achebe
Essays
Knopf
October 2009
On Sale: October 6, 2009
176 pages
ISBN: 0307272559
EAN: 9780307272553
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
From the celebrated author of Things Fall Apart and winner of the Man Booker International Prize comes a new collection of autobiographical essaysβhis first new book in more than twenty years. Chinua Achebeβs characteristically measured and nuanced voice is everywhere present in these seventeen beautifully written pieces. In a preface, he discusses his historic visit to his Nigerian homeland on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Things Fall Apart, the story of his tragic car accident nearly twenty years ago, and the potent symbolism of President Obamaβs election. In βThe Education of a British-Protected Child,β Achebe gives us a vivid portrait of growing up in colonial Nigeria and inhabiting its βmiddle ground,β recalling both his happy memories of reading novels in secondary school and the harsher truths of colonial rule. In βSpelling Our Proper Name,β Achebe considers the African-American diaspora, meeting and reading Langston Hughes and James Baldwin, and learning what it means not to know βfrom whence he came.β The complex politics and history of Africa figure in βWhat Is Nigeria to Me?,β βAfricaβs Tarnished Name,β and βPolitics and Politicians of Language in African Literature.β And Achebeβs extraordinary family life comes into view in βMy Dad and Meβ and βMy Daughters,β where we observe the effect of Christian missionaries on his father and witness the culture shock of raising βbrownβ children in America. Charmingly personal, intellectually disciplined, and steadfastly wise, The Education of a British-Protected Child is an indispensable addition to the remarkable Achebe oeuvre.
 Media BuzzAll Things Considered - October 15, 2009
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