Minutes of Glory - by Ngugi Wa Thiong'o (Hardcover)

About the Book

"First published in the United Kingdom in the Heinemann African Writers Series as Secret Lives and Other Stories, 1975. A new edition was published in the United Kingdom by Harvill Secker, 2018. This edition published in the United States by The New Press, New York, 2019"--Title page verso.

Book Synopsis

A dazzling short story collection from the person Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie calls "one of the greatest writers of our time"

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, although renowned for his novels, memoirs, and plays, honed his craft as a short story writer. From "The Fig Tree, " written in 1960, his first year as an undergraduate at Makerere University College in Uganda, to the playful "The Ghost of Michael Jackson," written as a professor at the University of California, Irvine, these collected stories reveal a master of the short form.

Covering the period of British colonial rule and resistance in Kenya to the bittersweet experience of independence--and including two stories that have never before been published in the United States-- Ngũgĩ's collection features women fighting for their space in a patriarchal society, big men in their Bentleys who have inherited power from the British, and rebels who still embody the fighting spirit of the downtrodden. One of Ngũgĩ's most beloved stories, "Minutes of Glory," tells of Beatrice, a sad but ambitious waitress who fantasizes about being feted and lauded over by the middle-class clientele in the city's beer halls. Her dream leads her on a witty and heartbreaking adventure.

Published for the first time in America, Minutes of Glory and Other Stories is a major literary event that celebrates the storytelling might of one of Africa's best-loved writers.

Review Quotes

Praise for Minutes of Glory:
"With Minutes of Glory and Other Stories, Ngũgĩ assembles the quintessential collection of short stories spanning the length of his literary career."
--World Literature Today

"[Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o] has collected his best . . . these stories affirm the wide range of a global sensation."
--The Millions

"Thiong'o weaves together disparate stories of people attempting to deal with change in their lives, either chosen or forced upon them, showing his understanding of human nature, its frequent resistance to change, and its ability to surprise. This is a masterful collection."
--Publisher Weekly (starred review)

"Subversive and insightful, this masterful, long-overdue, yet timely collection introduces Ngugi's fiction to American readers."
--Booklist (starred review)

"A valuable literary view of African lives in a pivotal, turbulent era."
--Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o's Birth of a Dream Weaver:
One of Oprah.com's "17 Must-Read Books for the New Year" and O Magazine's "10 Titles to Pick up Now."

"Exquisite in its honesty and truth and resilience, and a necessary chronicle from one of the greatest writers of our time."
--Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, The Guardian, Best Books of 2016.

"It's hard to think of another living writer today -- Orhan Pamuk, perhaps -- who speaks so inspiringly and convincingly about the value of literature. No serious reader will want to miss this riveting story."
--The Washington Post

About the Author

Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (1938-2025) was a leading Kenyan author and academic. He is the author of A Grain of Wheat; Weep Not, Child; and Petals of Blood, as well as Birth of a Dream Weaver, Wrestling with the Devil, The Perfect Nine, and Decolonizing Language and Other Revolutionary Ideas (all from The New Press). He was the recipient of twelve honorary doctorates, among other awards, and was nominated for the Man Booker International Prize.