A Long Way Gone
Ishmael Beah (b. 1980)
Fourth Estate • Jun 04, 2007 • 320 pages • paperback
About the Author
Ishmael Beah
b. 1980 · 1 work
Ishmael Beah (born 23 November 1980) is a Sierra Leonean author and human rights activist who rose to fame with his acclaimed memoir, *A Long Way Gone*. His novel *Radiance of Tomorrow* was published in January 2014. His most recent novel *Little Family* was published in April 2020 [(Source)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishmael_Beah?oldformat=true "Source").
Description
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (2007) is a memoir written by Ishmael Beah, an author from Sierra Leone. The book is a firsthand account of Beah's time as a child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone (1990s). Beah was 12 years old when he fled his village after it was attacked by rebels, and he wandered the war-filled country until brainwashed by an army unit that forced him...
A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier (2007) is a memoir written by Ishmael Beah, an author from Sierra Leone. The book is a firsthand account of Beah's time as a child soldier during the civil war in Sierra Leone (1990s). Beah was 12 years old when he fled his village after it was attacked by rebels, and he wandered the war-filled country until brainwashed by an army unit that forced him to use guns and drugs. By 13, he had perpetrated and witnessed numerous acts of violence. Three years later, UNICEF rescued him from the unit and put him into a rehabilitation program that helped him find his uncle, who would eventually adopt him. After his return to civilian life he began traveling the United States recounting his story.
A Long Way Gone was nominated for a Quill Award in the Best Debut Author category for 2007.
Time magazine's Lev Grossman named it one of the Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2007, ranking it at No. 3, and praising it as "painfully sharp", and its ability to take "readers behind the dead eyes of the child-soldier in a way no other writer has."
A Long Way Gone was listed as one of the top ten books for young adults by the American Library Association in 2008.
This Edition
Fourth Estate · Jun 04, 2007 · paperback · 320 pages
- ISBN-13
- 9780007253821
- ISBN-10
- 0007253826
- Language
- ENG