This House Has Fallen: Nigeria In Crisis [Paperback]

Karl Maier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 18, 2002

To understand Africa, one must understand Nigeria, and few Americans understand Nigeria better than Karl Maier. This House Has Fallen is a bracing and disturbing report on the state of Africa's most populous, potentially richest, and most dangerously dysfunctional nation.Each year, with depressing consistency, Nigeria is declared the most corrupt state in the entire world. Though Nigeria is a nation into which billions of dollars of oil money flow, its per capita income has fallen dramatically in the past two decades. Military coup follows military coup. A bellwether for Africa, it is a country of rising ethnic tensions and falling standards of living, very possibly on the verge of utter collapse — a collapse that could dramatically overshadow even the massacres in Rwanda.A brilliant piece of reportage and travel writing, This House Has Fallenlooks into the Nigerian abyss and comes away with insight, profound conclusions, and even some hope. Updated with a new preface by the author.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Maier puts a human face on a disheartening situation that seems remote and impersonal to most Americans. -- Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Karl Maier has been the Africa correspondent for London’s Independent newspaper and a contributor to The Economist and the Washington Post. His previous two books on Africa, Angola: Promises and Lies and Into the House of the Ancestors, received glowing reviews internationally. He lives in London.

Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books (December 18, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813340454
• ISBN-13: 978-0813340456
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #299,271 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #18 in Books > History > Africa > Nigeria

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A suberb account of a neglected nation, September 22, 2003

By 

Brodie Ramin (Monteal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: This House Has Fallen: Nigeria In Crisis (Paperback)

The title suggests the disturbing and eloquent rendering of midnight in Nigeria that this book provides. Maier's writing has continued to develop since his two earlier books to create one of the few magnificent accounts of contemporary African politics. Stories from Nigeria's colonial and post-colonial past are seamlessly linked to Maier's own travels. This book is just as important as Philip Gourevitch's account of Rwandan politics, and should be read by everyone.
For an interesting and thoughtful review of this book you should also see the The Economist's website.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Are Welcome, Maier Cracks A Bit of Nigeria's Problems, June 16, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: This House Has Fallen: Nigeria In Crisis (Paperback)

Living in Nigeria leaves one drained, confused and fascinated. Nigeria is like watching a car crash every day; you cannot help but to watch despite the blood and carnage. Mr. Maier's lively account of daily scences in Nigeria is a accessible read for anyone, even those who never set foot in Nigeria or could care less about Africa's problems. A case in point is Maier's visit to former military President Babangida. The President sat in his chalet a few hours drive from Nigeria's capital Abuja, charming, sly, friendly and happy with the billions of dollars he stold from the Nigerian people. In fact, Babangida is set to make another run for President in 2007. Maier allows the former President to talk and expose the underbelly of most Nigerian leaders, avarice, self-righteousness and the ability to buy people off with the money taken from government coffers. In fact, be it Obasanjo, Abacha, Buhari or any other military leader or newly minted democratic leaders, they are all the same people, in the same big seats, stealing the same people and country blind. Sad, but Nigeria. Maier allows the reader in to see Nigeria from Abuja to Minna to Lagos; it is a great read and essential for anyone coming to Nigeria.

You are Welcome!! Nigeria, what a country and what a mess.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Nice Book, January 29, 2005

By 

C. Vandu "Chippla Vandu" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: This House Has Fallen: Nigeria In Crisis (Paperback)

A nice book that touches on key aspects of Nigerian society. For a foreigner, Mr. Maier does a nice job in writing about the diverse ethnic groups that make up Nigeria. However, I have chosen to rate this book with three stars for the following reasons:

At some point in time, I got the feeling I was reading a newspaper. Being well versed and current with affairs in Nigeria, I found most of the stories recounted by Mr. Maier to be very familiar. What Mr. Maier failed to do was provide significant in-depth analysis into the problems besetting modern day Nigeria, or better still, present likely solutions to some of these problems from his point of view.

There are quite a few typographical errors in the book. I also disagree with a historical event stated. This has to do with the amalgamation of Nigeria in 1914. Mr. Maier says it was done because Northern Nigeria was running a deficit, while the South was economically sustainable. This is definitely not true. The Northern and Southern protectorates were merged to form Nigeria in 1914 to serve the interests of the British Empire. Mineral resources obtained in the North were shipped to ports in the South to be sent to Britain. It made economic sense to Britain and had nothing to do with deficits or the economic state of the Northern and Southern colonies.

Generally, it is a very good book and one that touches on several aspects of modern Nigerian society in its 300 or so pages. It is definitely worth the read if you are interested in understanding the complexity and diversity of Nigerian society as well as its history, economic state and recent return to a democratic system of government.