Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart (1958), "First published in 1958 – the year after Ghana became the first African nation to gain independence,
as Britain, France and Belgium started to recognise the end of colonialism in Africa and began their unseemly withdrawal – Chinua Achebe's debut novel concerns itself
with the events surrounding the start of this disastrous chapter in African history. Set in the late 19th century, at the height of the "Scramble" for African
territories by the great European powers, Things Fall Apart tells the story of Okonkwo, a proud and highly respected Igbo from Umuofia, somewhere near the Lower Niger.
Okonkwo's clan are farmers, their complex society a patriarchal, democratic one. Achebe suggests that village life has not changed substantially in generations. But
then the English arrive in their region, with the Bible – rather than the gun – their weapon of choice."
Chinua Achebe - Things Fall Apart (1958), "First published in 1958 – the year after Ghana became the first African nation to gain independence,
as Britain, France and Belgium started to recognise the end of colonialism in Africa and began their unseemly withdrawal – Chinua Achebe's debut novel concerns itself
with the events surrounding the start of this disastrous chapter in African history. Set in the late 19th century, at the height of the "Scramble" for African
territories by the great European powers, Things Fall Apart tells the story of Okonkwo, a proud and highly respected Igbo from Umuofia, somewhere near the Lower Niger.
Okonkwo's clan are farmers, their complex society a patriarchal, democratic one. Achebe suggests that village life has not changed substantially in generations. But
then the English arrive in their region, with the Bible – rather than the gun – their weapon of choice." 
