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In the style of a sere who sings the praises of the thirty-year career of the master hunter and president Koyaga (a fictionalized Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo), readers are treated to a brief overview of the French colonization of the \"\"Naked people,\"\" hunters in West African mountain country, followed by the account of Koyaga's assumption of power through treachery, assassination, and sorcery. In an interview Kourouma noted the Togolese assumption that if the people did not turn out to vote for Eyadema in the democratic elections following the cold war, the wild animals would come out of the forest to vote for him. 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Yet even after independence, Fama is forced to beg for his place amongst the bureaucratic elite. Meanwhile, his wife, Salimata, is desperately attempting to save the Dumbuya legacy from extinction.  Beyond the gripping political intrigue, Ahmadou Kourouma weaves together an in-depth tapestry of Malinke culture, blending the everyday experience of 1960s postcolonial life with age-old myths and traditions.  'Perhaps the most remarkable African novelist writing in French.' 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