Literature of Empire: Book Review Assignment on Achebe, Chinua, Things Fall Apart (1959)
How do novels, graphic novels, and autobiographies that employ real or fictional empires as their setting help us understand empires, imperialism, and colonialism in the modern world? What contribution does literature make to the study of empire? What are the limitations of literature for a historical investigation of empire?
Each student will:
1. Write an academic-style book review of the work focusing on the contributions and limitations of the work in helping us understand empires, imperialism, and colonialism in modern world history
2. Compose an annotated bibliographic citation of the work
3. Present a brief report to the class about the role that empire plays in the work you selected
Book Review: Should be roughly 1300 words in length. (I will post a brief guideline to writing a book review on Canvas in Course Modules.) The review should contain background information on the author and a plot summary, but focus on the contributions and limitations of the work on helping us understand empire, imperialism, and colonialism in the modern world. You must support your argument with properly cited quotes and examples from the text.
