Albert Chinualumogu Achebe was born the son of Isaiah Okafo, a evangelical
             Christian churchman, and Janet N. Achebe November 16, 1930 in Ogidi, Nigeria.
             Although both his parents were Christians, they heavily inundated him with
             traditional Ibo values. He married Christie Chinwe Okoli, September 10, 1961,
             and now has four children: Chinelo, Ikechukwu, Chidi, and Nwando. He attended
             Government College in Umuahia from 1944 to 1947 and University College in
             Ibadan from 1948 to 1953. He then received a his B.A. from London University
             in 1953. He studied broadcasting at the British Broadcasting Corp. in London in
             1956, and was later the director of External Broadcasting for the Nigerian
             Broadcasting Service. Achebe has received numerous honors, such as Honorary
             Fellowship of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters, and well
             over 20 (!) honorary doctorates. He is also recipient of the Nigerian National
             Merit Award, signifying high intellectual achievement that has shaped the culture
             From 1972 - 1976 and from 1897-1988 he was Professor of English at the
             University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and also at the University of Connecticut,
             Storrs. He later tought at Bard College.
             Currently, he lives with his family in Annandale, New York. A serious car
             accident left his paralyzed from the waist down.
             Things Fall Apart was his first and foremost novel, a deafening yet balanced
             description of the cultural clast between native African culture and traditional
             white culture. The novel describes what happened to Igbo society in the late
             1800s, when European missionaries and colonizers laid claim to Nigeria. The
             book has subsequently became required reading in many high schools and
             Achebe's style is one of the most well regarded styles of current authors,
             nearly revolutionary in impact. Although it may have a defamiliarizing effect upon
             some readers because of its stark sim...