Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe

 

Written in 1958, this wonderful book tells the story of a man called Okonkwo, who lived in what is now known as Nigeria. It certainly is a fascinating account of how the Igbo people lived, but it's not so much about the man or his family, as about the way the first missionaries and other colonials imposed their views on Africa, written entirely from an African point of view. Their whole way of life was completely altered by the insistence of the British that the self-governing towns and villages should be amalgamated into their idea of a country.  At the same time it didn’t try to idealise life in Africa at that time: the brutality resulting from some of their beliefs isn’t hidden.

It’s a short book at 176 pages and I found it easy to read.