Anthills of the Savannah and the Ideology of Leadership

The publishers' contribution to the back-cover blurb on the paperback edition of Anthills of the Savannah consists of a single, wholly unexceptionable, sentence: 'Chinua Achebe's new novel, his first for 21 years, has been received with great acclaim.' The message is clear: Achebe is so well known that there is no need for biographical notes; this novel has been 21 years in the gestation and critics, as one might expect, have recognised the greatness of so long-awaited a novel from so fine an author.