Links

This article comes from ABC News and it is about how the events that Beah states in the book could be exaggerated. It is reported that instead of the three years worth of events, they only lasted one year.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=4184h154&page=1

This link is an interview with the author, Ishmael Beah. He talks about his experiences in Sierra Leone and the new experiences he had when he left that country. These experiences include being in an elevator for the first time as well as seeing a major city, Freetown.
http://www.powells.com/authors/ishmaelbeah.html

This is an interview with the author and he discusses his experiences as a child soldier. He talks about how before the civil war broke out, he was like any other kid. He then talks about how after the war broke out he was forced to go into the army.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/entertainment/jan-june07/beah_04-05.html

This is another interview with the author. In this interview, he talks about how he has starting writing a fiction novel set in Sierra Leone. He also says that he has built a school in Sierra Leone. He then goes on and talks about his influences and what he will do next with his career.
http://aspen.com/aspen/colorado/articles/aspen-summer-words-interview-ishmael-beah

This article is about the war in Sierra Leone. It gives the reader an overview of the war and the reasons for the war. It also gives information on the victims of the war.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1999/01/99/sierra_leone/251251.stm

This article gives background information on Sierra Leone such as the type of government, history, and geography. It then gives information on the civil war. 
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0107959.html

This article is about how recently (April 27, 2011) Sierra Leone had celebrated it's 50th year of independence. It says that country has slowly moved towards peace after being stricken with civil war.
http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_200517772.shtml

This article is a "country profile" on Sierra Leone. It gives a broad overview of the country and outlines the war that takes place in 'A Long Way Gone.'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/country_profiles/1061561.stm

This article gives in depth coverage of  the civil war in Sierra Leone since it first broke out in 1991. It time-lines events since the outbreak until 2001. This time period is the is the time where Ishmael would have been in Sierra Leone.
http://www.globalissues.org/article/88/sierra-leone

This link is to information about the movie 'Blood Diamond'. This movie takes place in Sierra Leone during the civil war. It gives an accurate depiction of how life must have been during this war.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450259/

These are the lyrics to the remixed version of Kanye West's 'Diamond's From Sierra Leone'. In the first verse he talks about the diamond conflict during the time of the Sierra Leone civil war, and how it resulted in the deaths of many people.
 http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/kanyewest/diamondsfromsierraleoneremix.html

This article is from 1995 which was right when the Civil War was occurring. It's a short article and tells the reader that thousands of Sierra Leoneans had fled the country due to rebel attacks. In the book, these attacks are accounted in more detail from Ishamael's point of view.
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/30/world/strife-in-sierra-leone.html?ref=sierraleone

This is another article from 1995, the middle of the Civil War. It says that the government forces (Ishmael) killed 23 rebels during a six hour firefight. These types of events are described in greater detail in 'A Long Way Gone.'
http://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/19/world/23-killed-in-sierra-leone.html?ref=sierraleone

This article talks about how Sierra Leone is "no place to be young." It says that in the governments army, children compose 1/5 of the people.Children are forced to go into the army and become "soldiers, human shields, spies, porters and sex slaves." Ishmael was part of this army and he recalls his personal experiences in 'A Long Way Gone.'
http://www.nytimes.com/1999/02/14/magazine/sierra-leone-is-no-place-to-be-young.html?ref=sierraleone

This article says that the abuse of children during wartime was 'extensive.' In a 'Long Way Gone', Ishmael talks about how many of his friends and people he knew were killed and abused.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/27/world/survey-finds-extensive-abuses-of-refugee-children-in-africa.html?ref=sierraleone