Summary Of A Long Way Gone By Ishmael Beah

This book, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier by Ishmeal Beah, is an insider look at how the Civil War in Sierra Leone affected refugees and also delves into foreign affairs of the United States. I think this book would be beneficial to a scholar or student because the way the book is written is both informative and gripping. This book is a recount of a former child soldier’s experience in his war-stricken country. The author puts a face on the issue of child warfare in third-world countries.

The Author

Ishmael Beah is a native of Sierra Leone, which is located in Northern Africa. He was a teenage Ambassador in the United Nations First International Children’s Parliament

(Ishmaelbeah.com 2). This conference was full of children from

The children were brought to New York to speak to diplomats at the UN

Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). He was first introduced to the civil war when victims from other parts of the country sought refuge in their neighboring village (A Long

Way Gone 21). He soon found out that his parents were killed. Beah was a characteristically gentle child. He became a child soldier in the army to save himself from succumbing to murder or starvation. He wrote this book to inform readers about the conditions that many children had to endure and to tell the public that children have the ability to grow past their troubles given the opportunity (6). The author argues for the rights of children affected by war stricken countries. He speaks about how he was denied a childhood due to a travesty in his country. He is a member of the United

Nation’s Children Emergency Fund (UNICEF). He has written another book related to the Sierra Leone Civil War called a Radiance of Tomorrow (6).

Story Summary

Ishmael Beah was twelve years old when his village was ravaged by war while he was away preforming his with his beloved rap group (A Long Way Gone 21). After he realized that his family was killed in battle, him and his friends became wanderers

The United Nations’ is the authority on international relations. Overall, I think the author wrote this story to convey that third world countries deal with similar areas of concern as people in more developed countries like drug abuse and international relations.

Factuality and Organization

The author does not use any outside data or logical points in this story. It makes this story almost completely opinionated and biased. The story is just about all recounted experiences. That makes the analysis of this story harder because it is not cemented by statistics or precedents. Ishmael Beah wrote this book in a first person point of view, so there is no opposing view point because we are only allowed to hear his thoughts. The only real evidence to support his thesis is his own memories, which is not a credible source of information. The book is well organized because it is written in chronological order. This is typically how a biography is written, but the author focuses on a particular point in time. This book, however, does have factual influences. The United States will probably always be involved in foreign affairs. The United Nations is always