[.ca] This House Has Fallen: Nigeria In Crisis (ISBN 0813340454)

old wine in new skin:
I bought This House Has Fallen: Nigeria in Crisis (Maier, 2003) after reading This house has fallen: Midnight in Nigeria (Maier, 2000). To my surprise, the texts were identical, save for the title and cover picture. Was it the intention of the publishers and the author to reproduce the 2000 publication word for word under a different title? I hope not, but I look forward to hearing from them on this medium since I have not been able to reach them otherwise.

You Are Welcome, Maier Cracks A Bit of Nigeria's Problems:
Living in Nigeria leaves one drained, confused and fascinated. Nigeria is like watching a car crash every day; you cannot help but to watch despite the blood and carnage. Mr. Maier's lively account of daily scences in Nigeria is a accessible read for anyone, even those who never set foot in Nigeria or could care less about Africa's problems. A case in point is Maier's visit to former military President Babangida. The President sat in his chalet a few hours drive from Nigeria's capital Abuja, charming, sly, friendly and happy with the billions of dollars he stold from the Nigerian people. In fact, Babangida is set to make another run for President in 2007. Maier allows the former President to talk and expose the underbelly of most Nigerian leaders, avarice, self-righteousness and the ability to buy people off with the money taken from government coffers. In fact, be it Obasanjo, Abacha, Buhari or any other military leader or newly minted democratic leaders, they are all the same people, in the same big seats, stealing the same people and country blind. Sad, but Nigeria. Maier allows the reader in to see Nigeria from Abuja to Minna to Lagos; it is a great read and essential for anyone coming to Nigeria. You are Welcome!! Nigeria, what a country and what a mess.

Not great, not totally worthless either:
A pretty poor book. Like many journalists wanting to publish a book, Maier has strung together what appears to be a series of previously published articles. Unfortunately, it doesn't quite work, as there is no real theme or structure to the book, and it doesn't really seem to have a purpose beyond rehashing old articles. (It might have been more interesting if the articles were published as they were originally, although perhaps that would have been too revealing). Even more annoyingly, no-one at the publishing house seems to have bothered reading it before sending it to the printers: it's full of stupid mistakes which should have been picked up by the editors (it's "Royal Dutch/Shell", not "Royal/Dutch Shell" - a bit embarrassing when you write a whole chapter about them) and pointless repetition which betrays the fact that this is just a cut 'n' paste of old work (how many times do we need to be told the Mobile Police's nickname is "Kill & Go"? How many times do we need to be told Fela Kuti is an 'Afrobeat superstar'?). Laughably, the man uses the word "literally" without ever really understanding what it means. There is one section where he writes about a multi-ethnic, bustling city in which "churches and mosques literally elbow each other for room"! (sorry - can't remember the exact phrase - I don't have my copy with me). It's unfortunate that this book has come out so badly - the author obviously knows lots about Nigeria - but it just seems rushed and aimless. Perhaps if it was thoroughly rewritten or properly edited it would be more worthwhile.

A suberb account of a neglected nation:
The title suggests the disturbing and eloquent rendering of midnight in Nigeria that this book provides. Maier's writing has continued to develop since his two earlier books to create one of the few magnificent accounts of contemporary African politics. Stories from Nigeria's colonial and post-colonial past are seamlessly linked to Maier's own travels. This book is just as important as Philip Gourevitch's account of Rwandan politics, and should be read by everyone. For an interesting and thoughtful review of this book you should also see the The Economist's website.