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The Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe's 1958 Things Fall Apart transformed the world by vividly imagining the story of an African community in English, the language of the colonizers, and yet on its own terms. It transformed not only the English language but allowed millions of readers to enter into a civilization and worldview that is at once highly specific yet resonant with universal themes. Manthia Diawara, the Mali-born and European-educated renowned filmmaker and writer, explains why Things Fall Apart ranks among the great novels of all time, and how reading this book brings you face-to-face with the great challenges and joys faced by all humans everywhere.