This House Has Fallen: Midnight in Nigeria
Author: Karl Maier
List Price: $26.00
Our Price: Click to see the latest and low price
ISBN: 1891620606
Publisher: PublicAffairs (July, 2000)
Sales Rank: 45,627
Average Customer Rating: 4 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
A first-class effort
I begin by nailing my colours very firmly to the mast-this is easily one of the best books on Nigeria I have ever read. Any one who has ever been to Nigeria will relate to Maier's tale right from the "airport experience", and the novice will be eqully gripped. The rest of the book maintains the high standard. I suspect that part of the reason this book is so credible is that it is based on Maier having "been there and done that" to an extent that makes me as a Nigerian vaguely ashamed that a foreigner appears to be more widely travelled in, and to know my own country better than I do. Add to this the fact that he had wide access to different sources, and that he presents his story humorously yet seriously, and the reasons why this is such a good book become clearer. The greatest acheivement of this book is that it gives a picture of Nigeria(past and present) that is uncluttered by any prejudices of the author, which is no mean feat. An excellent book, warmly recommended.
Rating: 5 out of 5
This House Has Fallen
This is an excellent work that presents Nigeria in a more complete and authentic way than any Nigerian author could have done. For one thing, Karl Maier's access to notable players in the wired Nigerian saga seems so broad and complete that even the best of African historians must feel somewhat humbled. The book is candid, factual and umbiased and tells the country's story in a style that easily catches the interest of a world that has grown apathetic to the plight of a very well-endowed nation with an unbelievable capacity for economic and political rambling .
Rating: 2 out of 5
Lots of Problems
I do think that the author had good intentions when he embarked on this endeavor, and there are some interesting anecdotes. I like the way he attempts to look at different aspects of Nigeria in every chapter: faith, ethnicity, etc. However he did not sufficiently contextualize the problems Nigeria faces in terms of Nigerian history or put them in their global economic contemporary context, either.
Someone might argue that he could only include some things and not others but as someone who teaches African history I can only emphasize how crucial it is to fully explain Nigeria's colonial past, the way it was governed etc. if you want to understand why there is such deeply rooted regionalism there and so many awful divisions. Maier only makes brief reference to "divide and rule" tactics of the British but even the one example he gives shows how devastating and bizarre and destructive colonial tactics were. Of course, that gets all of one paragraph, unlike the tireless accounts of seemingly senseless violence. Same with his mentioning that Shell oil funded all kinds of conflicts. He'll mention these things and then put all the blame on Nigerians.
Unfortunately there are so many untrue prejudices about Africa, that any book like this just feeds the fire of "Afro-pessimism" as it has been called: namely, Africans "can't govern themselves". The book contains a lot of stories of disorder and strife rather than emphasizing the resilience of the human spirit or how many democratic activist movements there really have been.
Any time you have something like this it's "reporting", not analysis. And this is a good series of articles but NOT a good introduction to the topic. Nigerians aren't scary, but the position that impoverished nations are in today is terrifying, and if we just cloud the real issues at stake by marveling at how "savage" the "dark continent" is we'll lose sight of the fact that Nigerians are people just like us-but without the infrastructure or funds to check massive corruption at the highest levels of government. And that's what colonialism did, create a parasitic elite. So if we really want to solve Nigeria's problems, why don't we stop blaming Nigerians and marveling at their dilemmas and instead help come up with solutions?
Book Index