Things Fall Apart

The AWS Classics is a brand-new Heinemann series which offers a selection of the best-known works of African literature originally published in the African Writes Series. With new introductions written for each title in the series, these classic novels are a must-read for anyone interested in African Literature.

Recognised as one of Africa’s 100 Best Books of the 20^th Century in an initiative organized by the Zimbabwe International Book Fair, Things Fall Apart is a novel which portrays the collision of African and European cultures in people’s lives. Okonkwo, a great man in Igbo traditional society, cannot adapt to the profound changes brought about by British colonial rule. Yet, as in classic tragedy, Okonkwo’s downfall results from his own character as well as from external forces.

By Chinua Achebe, winner of the 2007 Man Booker International Prize, this edition of Things Fall Apart includes an introduction by Dr Mpalive-Hangson Msiska, Senior Lecturer in English and Humanities at Birkbeck College, University of London.