Milwood Classics Book Club

Considered one of the most influential books of all time, Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart tells a microcosmic story of colonialism in a region that would ultimately become part of Nigeria. Achebe was among the first students to enter the University of Ibadan, a Nigerian college created in preparation for independence. Basically, he was educated in the first institution built to be independent of the British. He studied medicine but became increasingly angered by the portrayal of Nigerians (and Africans in general) in Western Literature, with Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness being at the top of his list. Achebe switched to the study of English, history, and theology.

Things Fall Apart is one of the first works of fiction by an African written in English. Translated into more than fifty languages, this novel represents a political and psychological breakthrough in the ongoing process of decolonialization. And yet, this is a work that aims at truth above rhetoric. Things Fall Apart consistently ranks as one of the most important works of the modern era.

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