overview of Book:
Ishmael Beah is a former child soldier. He was born in Sierra Leone, a country in the Northwest part of Africa. At the age of twelve he was separated from his family during a rebel attack, and by the age of thirteen he was in the government army opposing the rebels. They turned him into a killing machine and desensitized him to violence. He was fighting to avenge his family's death. When he was sixteen, he was removed from the war by UNICEF, United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund , and rehabilitated. At first he was angry that he was being taken away from what he had accepted as his life. He had dedicated so much to the war and he thought it was a waste to leave. Later he realizes that it was best for him and that he didn't deserve that life as a child. He eventually forgives himself for the terrible things he did during the fighting and published his book " A Long Way Gone," to share his story and to create awareness about the impacts of war on children involved in it.