A Long Way Gone

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 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.

Excerpt

There were all kinds of stories told about the war that made it sound as if it was happening in a faraway and different land.

Description

At the age of twelve, Ishmael Beah fled attacking rebels in Sierra Leone and wandered a land rendered unrecognizable by violence. By thirteen, he'd been picked up by the government army, and Beah, at heart a gentle boy, found that he was capable of truly terrible acts. At sixteen, he was removed from fighting by UNICEF, and through the help of the staff at his rehabilitation center, he learned how to forgive himself, to regain his humanity, and, finally, to heal. This is an extraordinary and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty. --back cover

Subjects

Other Editions

• A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy SoldierPaperbackSarah Crichton Books2008-01-01
• A Long Way GoneHardcoverSarah Crichton Books2007-01-01
• A Long Way GoneHardcoverWindsor | Paragon2007-01-01
• Ver van huisSijthoff2007-01-01
• A Long Way GoneHardcoverSarah Crichton Books2007-01-01
• A Long Way GoneHardcoverFourth Estate2007-01-01