Chigozie Obioma, a distinguished teaching fellow at Hillsdale College and a friend of several of us, is one of the leading novelists of our time. The New York Times recently did a profile of him. In fiction, one of the biggest prizes is the Booker. He has been a finalist for it twice, and I bet he wins it one day.
Chigozie has a new book coming out, The Road to the Country. It is about the Nigerian Civil War, which was fought from 1967-1970 over its eastern territory, Biafra. Outside the world wars, it is one of the biggest tragedies to stain the 20th century.
I recommend that you read this book for a greater and lesser reason. The lesser reason is the importance of Nigeria and Africa. Nigeria has a population over 200 million, a high birth rate, and the expectation is that it will surpass the US population in the next generation. It is rich in natural resources. About 85 percent of the world population lives in Eurasia and Africa, only 15 percent in the Western Hemisphere. We would be foolish not to pay attention to trends like this as world economies grow. Nigeria is important and interesting.
But that is not the real reason to read this book. The greater reason is that it is a beautiful book. Make no mistake, the book is about a war, and it is tragic in a way that cuts straight into the heart. The battle descriptions excite, terrify, and despond. The hero, a man like us when we are at our best, struggles and keeps struggling with purpose and confusion. He is doubtful and determined. One sides with him and the many good people around him. One fears for them, exults with them, weeps with them. If you want to understand war, you can learn about it here.
As in Chigozie’s other novels, the cosmic and the heavenly are characters in the story. If the gift of poetry is to make the immediate transcendent and the transcendent immediate, Chigozie is a master. Through an intermediary and to his surprise, the hero talks with the stars in conversations that are like those he has with the people next to him. We humans forget that we live in the presence of the sublime. This novel brings it down so we can speak with it.
This is not merely a story only about one little man, confused, uncertain, brave, and driven; not only about his meeting a girl and falling in love amidst the battles; not only about his suffering and infliction of suffering; not only about his fights to be free and to be good or his sometime victories. This is not merely a story about a continent far away and a life different from our own. You will find the people in this story recognizable like your neighbors, fearsome like your enemies, lovable like your family. You will find that their longings and their obstacles are like your own, and so you will better understand your own. It is a story about us.
Best regards,
Larry P. Arnn
President of Hillsdale College