Customer Reviews

The Biafra Story. -

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a rather dated book about the Nigerian Civil War. The book was written during the war, so there is no detail on the end of the war. There have been few books about this disastrous war where over a million people died in combat or by starvation.

Forsyth does a good job of damning the then Nigerian military government and the British Labor government. In this Civil War, food became a valid weapon as the Nigerian government starved out and caused the deaths of millions of innocent civilians. The rest of the world turned away because of British propaganda about the evils of the Biafrian government. In addition, the massacres of captured Ibo civilians and soldiers is a damning indictment of genocide against the Nigerian government (composed of Northern Nigerian Muslim tribesmen) fronted by Colonel Gowon.

Forsyth shows in stark contrast the two governments and their leaders. Gowon is pictured as a front man for the Northern tribes sultans. Ojukwu is shown as a leader of the Ibo tribesman, seeking a democratic council with the other minority tribes in the governing of Biafra. Ojukwu is shown as civilized, using democratic principles where Gowon condones mass murder for the sake of putting down the rebel movement. Gowon is interested only in Biafra for the oil it contains, and not the people.

Forsyth writes in a slanted way. One realizes he is for the Biafrian government, and the book is structured toward proving the Nigerian government is evil and the Biafrians are good. This book could have been more objective and this is why I rated it a three star. In addition, an outcome of the Civil War would also be great for latter editions.

Forsyth does an excellent job in this book. He understands that it is necessary to examine closely the social, political, and tribal underpinnings in the conglomeration known as Nigeria, in order to fully understand the Biafran secession in context. Without being polemical he systematically examines these areas and offers compelling reasons for the war, instead of automatically resorting to specious Marxist or other dogmatic reasoning. The Nigerian Civil War was an important and tragic event, and Forsyth does a thorough and careful job of explaining it to us.