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The book organizes key events around political developments, ethnic tensions, the arguments between competing sides, and the international and intellectual dimensions of the conflict. It further examines wartime atrocities, displacement, media warfare, economic blockade, and the postwar reconstruction and reflections that follow.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":10,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/story-novel/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/there-was-a-country-a-personal-history-of-biafra-contents/300091/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/there-was-a-country-a-personal-history-of-biafra-contents/300091.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Eliana","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-09-18",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":44},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What historical period does this book cover?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It traces events leading up to 1966, the Nigeria-Biafra war period, and the transitions after the war through postscript reflections and appendices.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How is the book structured?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It is organized into four main parts: Pioneers of a New Frontier, the Nigeria-Biafra War, the Fight to the Finish, and Nigeria’s Painful Transitions: A Reappraisal.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Does the contents include poems and major war topics?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"Yes. The contents list multiple titled poems alongside chapters addressing coups, massacres, blockades, refugee life, the media war, and genocide-related questions.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},300091,1790657491,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":8,"category_name":10,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":44,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},4398048949847,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/400002536579ef2da7f?_k=1778318612642679267","ALSO BY CHINUA ACHEBE  \nThe Education ofa British-Protected Child Collected Poems Anthills ofthe Savannah The Sacrificial Egg and Other Stories  \nThings Fall Apart No Longer at Ease Chike and the River AMan ofthe People Arrow ofGod Girls at War and Other Stories Beware Soul Brother Morning Yet on Creation Day The Trouble with Nigeria  \nThe Flute  \nThe Drum Home and Exile Hopes and Impediments How the Leopard Got His Claws  \n(with John Iroaganachi)  \nWinds ofChange: Modern Short Stories from BlackAfrica  \n(coeditor)  \nAfrican Short Stories  \n(editor, with C. L. Innes)  \nAnother Africa  \n(with Robert Lyons)  \n THERE WAS A COUNTRY  \n A PERSONAL HISTORY OF BIAFRA   \n Chinua Achebe   \n THE PENGUIN PRESS   \n New York  \n 2012   \nTHE PENGUIN PRESS  \nPublished by the Penguin Group  \nPenguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street , New York, New York 10014, U. S.A. • Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East , Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M 4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) • Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England • Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) • Penguin Group Australia, 707 Collins Street , Melbourne, Victoria 3008, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) • Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd, 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi – 110 017, India • Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, Auckland 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) • Penguin Books, Rosebank Office Park, 181 Jan Smuts Avenue, Parktown North 2193, South Africa • Penguin China, B7 Jaiming Center, 27 East Third Ring Road North, Chaoyang District , Beijing 100020, China  \nPenguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices:  \n80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England  \nFirst published in 2012 by The Penguin Press,  \na member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.  \nCopyright © Chinua Achebe, 2012  \nAll rights reserved  \n“ 1966,” “Benin Road,” “Penalty of Godhead,” “Generation Gap ,” “Biafra, 1969,” “A Mother in a Refugee Camp ,” “The First Shot ,” “Air Raid,” “Mango Seedling,”  \n“We Laughed at Him,” “Vultures,” and “After a War” from Collected Poems by Chinua Achebe. Copyright © 1971, 1973, 2004 by Chinua Achebe. Used by  \npermission of Anchor Books, a division of Random House, Inc.  \nLIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING IN PUBLICATION DATA  \nAchebe, Chinua.  \nThere was a country : a personal history of Biafra / Chinua Achebe.  \n[p. cm](p. cm).  \nIncludes bibliographical references and index.  \nISBN 978-1-101-59598-5  \n1. Achebe, Chinua. 2. Authors, Nigerian—20th century—Biography. 3. Nigeria—History—Civil War, 1967–1970—Personal narratives. I. Title.  \nPR9387 .9.A3Z46 2012  \n823'.914—dc23  \n[B]  \n2012005603  \nNo part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author ’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.  \nPenguin is committed to publishing works of quality and integrity. In that spirit , we are proud to offer this book to our readers; however, the story, the experiences, and the words are the author ’s alone.  \nCONTENTS  \nAlso by Chinua Achebe  \nTitle Page  \nCopyright  \nMaps  \nIntroduction  \nPART 1  \nPioneers of a New Frontier  \nThe Magical Years  \nAPrimary Exposure  \nLeaving Home  \nThe Formative Years at Umuahia and Ibadan  \nTHE UMUAHIA EXPERIENCE  \nTHE IBADAN EXPERIENCE  \nMeeting Christie and Her Family  \nDiscovering Things Fall Apart  \nA Lucky Generation  \nThe March to Independence  \nThe Cradle of Nigerian Nationalism  \nPost-Independence Nigeria  \nThe Decline  \nThe Role of the Writer in Africa  \n1966 (poem)  \nJanuary 15, 1966, Coup  \nThe Dark Days  \nBenin Road (poem)  \nA History of Ethnic Tension and Resentment The Army  \nCountercoup and Assassination  \nThe Pogroms  \nPenalty ofGodhead (poem)  \nThe Aburi Accord  \nGeneration Gap (poem)  \nThe Nightmare Begins  \nPART 2  \nThe Nigeria-Biafra ","cbCaid9pK5sHXIWD","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaid9pK5sHXIWD","pdf",1969087,241,"English","# Contents\n## PART 1\n## PART 2\n## PART 3\n## PART 4","[{\"question\":\"What historical period does this book cover?\",\"answer\":\"It traces events leading up to 1966, the Nigeria-Biafra war period, and the transitions after the war through postscript reflections and appendices.\"},{\"question\":\"How is the book structured?\",\"answer\":\"It is organized into four main parts: Pioneers of a New Frontier, the Nigeria-Biafra War, the Fight to the Finish, and Nigeria’s Painful Transitions: A Reappraisal.\"},{\"question\":\"Does the contents include poems and major war topics?\",\"answer\":\"Yes. The contents list multiple titled poems alongside chapters addressing coups, massacres, blockades, refugee life, the media war, and genocide-related questions.\"}]","There Was a Country - A Personal History of Biafra - Contents | PDF",1789772927,371]