What to Read, and Why
Primary Sources
- Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789) — The foundational primary source on 18th-century Igbo life and the slave trade. Available free at Project Gutenberg.
- Nnamdi Azikiwe, My Odyssey: An Autobiography (1970) — The independence-era nationalist leader's own account of his formation and political career.
- Chinua Achebe, There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra (2012) — The definitive Igbo literary account of the war and its aftermath. Essential.
Archaeology and Origins
- Thurstan Shaw, Igbo-Ukwu: An Account of Archaeological Discoveries in Eastern Nigeria (2 vols., 1970) — The definitive account of the excavations. Technical but indispensable.
- Don Ohadike, Anioma: A Social History of the Western Igbo People (1994) — Important regional history with strong archaeological and oral tradition material.
General Igbo History
- Elizabeth Isichei, A History of the Igbo People (1976) — The most comprehensive academic history of the Igbo, covering origins through the post-civil war period. The starting point for serious study.
- Adiele Afigbo, Ropes of Sand: Studies in Igbo History and Culture (1981) — Essential essays on Igbo political history, the Nri Kingdom, and the colonial encounter.
- Victor Uchendu, The Igbo of Southeast Nigeria (1965) — Anthropological account of Igbo social organisation, religion, and culture. Foundational.
The Slave Trade
- G. Ugo Nwokeji, The Slave Trade and Culture in the Bight of Biafra (2010) — The definitive modern study of the Igbo experience in the Atlantic slave trade.
- Adiele Afigbo, The Warrant Chiefs: Indirect Rule in Southeastern Nigeria 1891-1929 (1972) — Essential on the colonial administrative system and its relationship to the Aro trading network.
Colonial Resistance
- Judith Van Allen, "Sitting on a Man: Colonialism and the Lost Political Institutions of Igbo Women" (1972) — The foundational academic account of the Women's War of 1929. Available in African Studies Review.
- Don Ohadike, The Ekumeku Movement: Western Igbo Resistance to the British Conquest of Nigeria, 1883-1914 (1991) — The only book-length study of the Ekumeku resistance movement.
The Biafra War
- Frederick Forsyth, The Biafra Story (1969) — Contemporary journalistic account from the Biafran side. Invaluable as contemporaneous witness.
- John Stremlau, The International Politics of the Nigerian Civil War 1967-1970 (1977) — The standard academic account of the international dimensions of the war.
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) — The most widely read fictional account of the war and its human cost.
- Axel Harneit-Sievers et al. (eds.), A Social History of the Nigerian Civil War (1997) — Essays on the war's social dimensions, including the famine and civilian experience.
Contemporary Igbo
- Axel Harneit-Sievers, Constructions of Belonging: Igbo Communities and the Nigerian State since Independence (2006) — The best recent academic account of post-war Igbo politics and community organisation.
- Wale Adebanwi & Ebenezer Obadare (eds.), Encountering the Nigerian State (2010) — Essays on contemporary Nigerian politics including Igbo political dynamics.
Key Texts — Free Downloads
Free Digital Libraries
