Things fall apart - chinua achebe

Achebes first novel portrays the collision of African and European cultures in peoples lives.

Okonkwo, a great man in Igbo traditional society, cannot adapt to the profound changes brought about by British colonial rule.

Yet, as in classic tragedy, Okonkwos downfall results from his own character as well as from external forces.

A true classic of world literature .

A masterpiece that has inspired generations of writers in Nigeria, across Africa, and around the world.

-- Barack Obama Nominated as one of Americas best-loved novels by PBSs The Great American Read Things Fall Apart is the first of three novels in Chinua Achebes critically acclaimed African Trilogy.

It is a classic narrative about Africas cataclysmic encounter with Europe as it establishes a colonial presence on the continent.

Told through the fictional experiences of Okonkwo, a wealthy and fearless Igbo warrior of Umuofia in the late 1800s, Things Fall Apart explores one mans futile resistance to the devaluing of his Igbo traditions by British political andreligious forces and his despair as his community capitulates to the powerful new order.

With more than 20 million copies sold and translated into fifty-seven languages, Things Fall Apart provides one of the most illuminating and permanent monuments to African experience.

Achebe does not only capture life in a pre-colonial African village, he conveys the tragedy of the loss of that world while broadening our understanding of our contemporary realities.