What to Read, and Why
Primary Accounts
- Chinua Achebe, There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra (2012) — The most important Igbo literary account of the war. Essential. Achebe's indictment of Awolowo and his account of international indifference are the most powerful parts.
- Wole Soyinka, The Man Died: Prison Notes (1972) — Memoir of Soyinka's imprisonment by the federal government for attempting to negotiate a ceasefire. Essential for understanding the war from a Nigerian (non-Igbo) perspective.
- Alexander Madiebo, The Nigerian Revolution and the Biafran War (1980) — Account by Biafra's army commander. Military history from the inside.
- Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu, Biafra: Selected Speeches and Random Thoughts (1969) — Ojukwu's own words during the war. Primary source.
Academic Histories
- John Stremlau, The International Politics of the Nigerian Civil War 1967-1970 (1977) — Standard academic account of the international dimensions. Essential on Britain's role and the OAU's response.
- 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.
- Lasse Heerten & A. Dirk Moses (eds.), Postcolonial Conflict and the Question of Genocide (2018) — Includes essays on Biafra and whether the famine constituted genocide. The most rigorous recent academic engagement with the question.
Journalism and Contemporary Accounts
- Frederick Forsyth, The Biafra Story (1969) — Contemporary journalistic account from the Biafran side. Partisan but invaluable as contemporaneous witness.
- John de St. Jorre, The Brothers' War: Biafra and Nigeria (1972) — More balanced journalistic account than Forsyth. Essential for the international dimensions.
Literature
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Half of a Yellow Sun (2006) — The most widely read fictional account. Essential for humanising the statistics.
- Flora Nwapa, Never Again (1975) — Short novel about a woman's experience during the war. One of the few women's accounts.
- Christopher Okigbo, Labyrinths (1971) — The collected poetry of the greatest Igbo poet, killed fighting for Biafra in 1967.
Film and Documentary
- Half of a Yellow Sun (dir. Biyi Bandele, 2013) — Adaptation of Adichie's novel. Widely available on streaming platforms.
- Biafra: Fighting for Survival (various documentary treatments) — Multiple documentary accounts available online; quality varies significantly.
Declassified Documents
- UK National Archives, FCO files on Nigeria 1967-1970 — Available at nationalarchives.gov.uk. The most important primary source on British government decision-making during the war. Reveals the commercial and strategic calculations behind British arms supplies to the federal government.
Key Texts — Free Downloads
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