Chima Korieh's new book provides rich and compelling insights into the role played by ordinary Africans in the Second World War. Addressing a silence in the historiography, Korieh provides a broad view of Nigerians’ contribution to the war effort, what they sacrificed, how they mobilized, and the changes the war brought upon society. To date, the role of African societies in the war has been consistently undervalued by historians, and their active engagement with the conflict has not been sufficiently acknowledged. By examining new sources, including hundreds of petitions written by Nigerians to the colonial administration during the war, Korieh is able to shed new light on the concerns, interpretations, and demands of Nigerians in the context of global turmoil. Korieh provides fresh evidence on the impact of the war on political and economic relations between Britain and Nigeria, the ways that the war shaped the daily lives of colonial subjects, the effect of the war on colonial policy, and the reactions and responses of Nigerians to the conflict. Korieh demonstrates how our general knowledge of the war is deeply enriched and significantly modified when it is seen from the perspective of Nigerians. Readers of Korieh's book come away with a new understanding of the Second World War as ‘the most enduring global conflict of the modern era’ (5) rather than a European conflict.

The book is divided into five chapters, an Introduction, and a Conclusion. Chapter One provides a broad overview of British efforts aimed at securing Nigerian resources as part of the broader mobilization. The chapter examines escalating demands on Nigerian producers to provide the British with agricultural products and minerals needed for the war and the myriad of ways that Nigerians responded to these demands. The British attempted to better control and monitor the pace and quantities of supplies by establishing the National Supply Board, and the Emergency Powers Act made it possible to monitor communications and the flow of ideas in public discourse. Korieh argues that Nigerians countered these new demands on their resources and restrictions on their autonomy by identifying new opportunities, and some began profiteering schemes and smuggling to circumvent controls.

Chapter Two focuses on how Nigerian intellectual life was reshaped during the war. Through an examination of radio and print media, films, and exhibitions Korieh reveals how British efforts as disseminating propaganda were received locally. On the one hand, the Nigerian population fully embraced anti-German propaganda and strongly identified with the war against Nazism. At the same time, the war fostered new criticisms of British colonialism, leading Nigerians to invigorate their demands for more rights as imperial citizens. Chapter Four examines the Nigerian home front. Korieh looks at the recruitment of soldiers and the problems that arose when these soldiers confronted racism in the military. He also reviews increasing demands for Nigerian labor for building airfields, roads, and railways, and in the mining and agricultural sectors. Korieh argues that most Nigerians were persuaded to offer their labor, but some were compelled to do so. In all cases, the rising demands on labor and resources profoundly impacted Nigerians’ views of the colonial relationship. This impact is examined in depth in Chapter Four, which describes social protests against wartime measures. Korieh argues that Nigerians paid a heavy price for the war, and this fostered a broad array of responses and resistance. There were increasing demands from the Nigerian Youth Movement to protect the interests of citizens, particularly women, who faced restrictions as petty traders. There were also individualized local expressions of resistance initiated by ordinary citizens through petitions. These petitions afforded Nigerians the opportunity to articulate a counterhegemonic discourse to colonial wartime regulations. Thus, Nigerians of all walks of life pushed back against new controls and demonstrated a growing awareness of British dependence upon the colonies. Petitions reflected creative and persistent efforts to challenge colonial hierarchies and ideologies.

Chapter 5 examines the end of the war and the social, economic, and political changes brought about by the repatriation of soldiers, realignments in gender relations that resulted from mobilization, and economic restructuring that came with the end of the war. In each case, Korieh examines the fundamental shifts in social relations and the economy. Perhaps the most significant impact was seen in the political sphere, and Korieh examines demands for self-government and independence that increased at the end of the war. These observations have been well-established by other historians, but they take on new depth and meaning when seen as the continuation of processes examined throughout the book.

Korieh's work could have benefitted from more comparisons with other colonies, clarifying what was specifically Nigerian about the Nigerian engagement with the Second World War and what was part of a more general ‘African’ set of engagements. Yet this might have detracted from his highly detailed focus on how Nigerian society lived through the war, resisted its new restrictions, and arose to its opportunities. Korieh's book is an invaluable contribution to Nigerian social and political history, and is particularly noteworthy for providing new perspectives on African agency under British colonial rule.