A MONTH AND A DAY: A Detention...
A MONTH AND A DAY: A Detention Diary by Ken Saro-Wiwa (Penguin: $10.95, 238 pp.). In November 1995, human rights activist Ken Saro-Wiwa was executed by the military regime in Nigeria, despite international protests. These journal excerpts and speeches chronicle his imprisonment in 1993 for his efforts to organize the Ogoni people. The Ogoni homeland is the source of the petroleum that provides most of Nigeria’s income, yet the inhabitants receive few benefits and must endure extensive environmental degradation.
Saro-Wiwa leavens his rhetoric with a warm humor that leaves the reader mourning the loss of his eloquence: “To be at the mercy of buffoons is the ultimate insult. To find the instruments of state power reducing you to dust is the injury.”
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
