A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

A Long Way Gone by Ishmael Beah

In the #1 New York Times bestseller, A Long Way Gone, Ishmael Beah tells a riveting story: how at the age of twelve, he fled attacking rebels 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.

My new friends have begun to suspect I haven't told them the full story of my life.
"Why did you leave Sierra Leone?"
"Because there is a war."
"You mean, you saw people running around with guns and shooting each other?"
"Yes, all the time."
"Cool."
I smile a little.
"You should tell us about it sometime."
"Yes, sometime."

This is how wars are fought now: by children, hopped-up on drugs and wielding AK-47s. Children have become soldiers of choice. In the more than fifty conflicts going on worldwide, it is estimated that there are some 300,000 child soldiers. Ishmael Beah used to be one of them.

What is war like through the eyes of a child soldier? How does one become a killer? How does one stop? Child soldiers have been profiled by journalists, and novelists have struggled to imagine their lives. But until now, there has not been a first-person account from someone who came through this hell and survived.

This is a rare and mesmerizing account, told with real literary force and heartbreaking honesty.

Ishmael Beah was born in Sierra Leone, West Africa, in the year 1980. His work has appeared in a variety of publications, including The New York Times Magazine, Vespertine Press, LIT, Parabola, and a number of academic journals. He is a UNICEF Ambassador and Advocate for Children Affected by War; a member of the Human Rights Watch Children's Rights Advisory Council; an advisory board member at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's Center for the Study of Youth and Political Violence; a visiting scholar at Columbia University's Center for International Conflict Resolution; and a visiting Senior Research Fellow at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville's Center for the Study of Youth and Political Violence. On the effects of war on children, he has addressed the United Nations, the Council on Foreign Relations, and several panels. His book A Long Way Gone: Memories of a Child Soldier was nominated for a Quill Award in 2007 and has been translated into over thirty languages.

The book was ranked third among the top ten nonfiction books of 2007, according to Time magazine. Ishmael Beah earned his B.A. from Oberlin College. She holds a bachelor's degree in political science and lives in Brooklyn, New York.