Review
This is the second novel by Chimamanda Ngozi
Adichie, following
Purple Hibiscus (2002) which is also set in Nigeria.
It was published in hardcover in 2006 when the author was 29,
and won the prestigious Orange Prize in 2007. The Orange
Prize (underwritten by the telecommunications company, Orange)
is awarded to the best full length novel written in English by a
woman of any nationality.
Half of a Yellow Sun is a remarkable, totally absorbing
epic about a small corner of the vast continent of Africa that
many Westerners couldn't find on a map, but is nonetheless home
to 120 million people. It's a story of ethnic allegiances, moral
responsibility and love which puts a face on the devastating
civil war that erupted less than 40 years ago, in 1967, when the...
Beyond the Book
A Short History of Biafra and
Nigeria
Located on the west coast of Africa,
Nigeria (map)
is the most populous country in Africa
(~122 million in an area about double
that of California). It became a
state in 1960 when it declared its
independence from Britain. In 1966 a
series of coups and counter coups
started that continued until 1999 (other
than for a short lived "second republic"
from 1979-1983) when democracy was
regained.
It was believed that the January 1966
coup was initiated by Igbo officers (the
Igbo or Ibo are one of the...
