A Man of the People

Chinua Achebe · 1930–2013 · Nigeria

Why it matters

A corrupt, populist government minister and the idealistic young teacher who first admires then challenges him, in a satire so accurate about African coups that a real one broke out in Nigeria weeks after publication. Achebe's most openly comic novel, and his sharpest attack on the new political class.

At a glance

Breezy, comic first-person narration disguises the sharpness of its political indictment.