Books: Tropical &Topical;

A MAN OF THE PEOPLE by Chinua Achebe. 167 pages. John Day. $3.95.

Early in the muzzy Nigerian August, one military junta took power from another in yet another coup that by now has become more commonplace in Africa than the tsetse fly. Whatever it is in the African climate or mentality or its shaky institutions that makes so many governments so susceptible to disintegration may never be very clearly understood. Perhaps there are some clues to be found in a novel sourceĀ—a novel, that is, by Chinua Achebe.

In A Man of the People,...

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