A LONG WAY GONE – MEMOIRS OF A BOY SOLDIER/ISHMAEL BEAH

Abstract

The relevance of a book review of a fictional account of the life story of achild soldier in Sierra Leone for a journal such as Scientia Militaria is twofold: a)Truth (reality) remains stranger (more horrific) than fiction; b) Based on nationalforeign policy, the truth (realities) of Sierra Leone is by continental affiliation aSouth African reality, and by micro-affiliation an SANDF reality.This book challenges contemporary society, which is continuously bombardedand often jaded by faceless or nameless graphic news scenes. Those portions ofsociety that remain blinded by prejudice and self-centred socio-political gaze to theseverity of these scenes, are now confronted with a face and a name: Ishmael Beah.Physical combat methods to end human-on-human atrocities are welldocumented.These methods, augmented by root-level resistance and general humantenacity to overcome, often brought ends to what were at the height of theirexistence perceived as endless oppressive reigns of varied proportions (World WarII, Apartheid, the Berlin Wall, Serbian rule, etc.).