Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #394556 in Books
• Published on: 2003-01-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780813340456
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Customer Reviews

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.

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.

Terrible
I hated this book for a variety of reasons. First of all, no one who has any real appreciation of Nigeria's rich and diverse culture, history, literature, music, etc., will be even mildly convinced that this man knows the first thing about the people and the country about which he decided to write this wretched book.

You, the potential reader, may not know this, but at least you have me to tell you before you make the mistake of purchasing this book in the fraudulent belief that you will learn something from it. Maier seems obsessed with simply presenting Nigeria as a basketcase, despite the fact that he does not have a profound understanding of its people. No one like that should write a book like this.

Wole Soyinka and Chinua Achebe, two of Nigeria's most talented authors, have both written books extremely critical of Nigeria, but they did so from a position of knowledge, and it showed. Which is not to say that you have to be from Nigeria to write a book about the country. Certainly not. But presenting the nation out of context in such an unsympathetic way, with so little nuance, is not only poor scholarship, it's dangerous.

Nigeria has tremendous problems, but it also has amazing success stories, none of which made it into this book. There are stories demonstrating the remarkable ingenuity, entrepreneurship and dilligence of Nigerian men and women under the hardest circumstances. It's a nation with great art, great literature, great music, a great sense of humor, not to mention thousands of years of history, and some of Africa's longest lasting and most interesting kingdoms and cultures.

But, you would definitely not know that reading this book, because all you are presented with is a bunch of miserable information. How would one expect readers to become interested in such a place? I'm not suggesting that Nigeria's very real problems be ignored, far from it. I'm only saying that a national portrait of political and moral collapse should at least show that the nation in question ALSO has remarkable talent, also has some of the funniest, warmest, and most resilient people you'll ever meet, also has a fascinating history, is diverse, and has complex historical reasons for so many of its problems. The book doesn't really explain how colonialism or modern financial interests and corporate interest might play into that. Or, why corrupt leaders come to power. What's the dynamic there? Why does this happen? The book doesn't deign to attempt answer such questions. Why? I have no idea. It just tells us that it's a corrupt country, and that we should care because it has oil, and a hundred million people.

I really think the world would be a better place if uninformed people stopped writing pessimistic drivel that further defames a continent which needs defenders, not detractors. I can't believe I bought this book, and own it.