&gt; What value does knowing what year an obscure book was published provide for his life in general?<p>Agreed in general. In this specific case I should point out, however, that <i>Things Fall Apart</i> (1958) may be the most widely read piece of African literature. It&#x27;s regularly assigned in college literature courses and is selling better on Amazon than either <i>War and Peace</i> or Neal Stephenson&#x27;s <i>Seveneves</i> (to pick two that people here may have heard of.)