The Trial of Christopher Okigbo
New York: The Third Press, 1971. Jacket design by Bennie Arrington. First printing. Hardcover 5" x 7 1/2", beige cloth boards with gilt lettering in pictorial dust jacket, 145 pp. At the time of publication, 1971, the Kenyan-born political scientist and author was approached by Idi Amin to an appointment in the Ugandan government, which he refused, ending his teaching career at the largest Ugandan College, University of Makerere. The book is a novelization of Christopher Okigbo who died fighting for the independence of Biafra in the Nigerian Civil War, 1967. Okigbo's life was marked by a series of difficult decisions around his political ideals and artistic inclinations. Even his Nigerian Air Force bombs destroyed his autobiography, Pointed Arches in a raid of his home in Enugu, July 1967. With varying severity, similar struggles also marked Mazrui's life. Around the time of Okigbo's death, Mazrui was asked by John Okello to aid in drafting the Zanzibar revolutionary constitution during their fight for independence as a socialist republic. This is Mazrui's first novel. Very good. / Very good dust jacket, light rubbing and wear to seams of spine with similar wear to edges and corners. Item #1165
Price: $125.00