{"product_id":"how-beautiful-we-were-9780593132425","title":"How Beautiful We Were","description":"\u003cb\u003eFrom the celebrated author of the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e bestseller \u003ci\u003eBehold the Dreamers\u003c\/i\u003e comes a sweeping, wrenching story about the collision of a small African village and an American oil company.\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e\"A novel with the richness and power of a great contemporary fable, and a heroine for our time.\"--Sigrid Nunez, author of \u003ci\u003eThe Friend\u003c\/i\u003e, winner of the National Book Award\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eWe should have known the end was near.\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003eSo begins Imbolo Mbue's powerful second novel, \u003ci\u003eHow Beautiful We Were\u003c\/i\u003e. Set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, it tells of a people living in fear amid environmental degradation wrought by an American oil company. Pipeline spills have rendered farmlands infertile. Children are dying from drinking toxic water. Promises of cleanup and financial reparations to the villagers are made--and ignored. The country's government, led by a brazen dictator, exists to serve its own interests. Left with few choices, the people of Kosawa decide to fight back. Their struggle will last for decades and come at a steep price. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTold from the perspective of a generation of children and the family of a girl named Thula who grows up to become a revolutionary, \u003ci\u003eHow Beautiful We Were\u003c\/i\u003e is a masterful exploration of what happens when the reckless drive for profit, coupled with the ghost of colonialism, comes up against one community's determination to hold on to its ancestral land and a young woman's willingness to sacrifice everything for the sake of her people's freedom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Random House\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/09\/2021\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780593132425\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 384\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview Citations: \u003c\/strong\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e 03\/15\/2020 pg. 29\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 04\/01\/2020 pg. 89\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Imbolo Mbue","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":38472164704437,"sku":"9780593132425","price":23.8,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0473\/0804\/6492\/products\/img_705aed1c-6069-48a4-a46a-52ab2cab7fac.jpg?v=1612934008","url":"https:\/\/pastforward.org\/products\/how-beautiful-we-were-9780593132425","provider":"Past Forward","version":"1.0","type":"link"}