The Biafra Story

The making of an African legend

  By Frederick Forsyth

The Nigerian civil war of the late 1960s was one of the first occassions when Western consciences were awakened and deeply affronted by the level of the suffering and the scale of the atrocity being played out in the African Continent. This book which marked Frederick Forsyth's transition from journalist to author is a record of one of the most brutal conflicts the Third World has ever suffered, it has become a classic of modern war reporting. But it is more than that. It voices one man's outrage not only at the extremes of human violence, but also at the duplicity and self-interest of the Western Governments - most notably, the British, who tacitly accepted or actively aided that violence. The combination of the dramatic events and the shocking exposures combined with the author's forthright and perceptive style makes The Biafra Story as compelling a read today as when it was first written.