Sierra Leone at Independence, Volume I: Struggle for Democratic Foundations (1961–1970) This first volume in the Sierra Leone at Independence series offers a rigorously researched, year-by-year account of the nation’s formative decade after independence. Spanning from the optimism of April 27, 1961, to the consolidation of power by 1970, the book traces how hope, leadership choices, and institutional fragility shaped the trajectory of the new republic. Written with scholarly precision and narrative clarity, this volume examines the transition from colonial rule to self-government, the stewardship of Sir Milton Margai, the succession crisis following his death, the rise and fall of military rule, and the eventual return to civilian governance under Siaka Stevens. It reveals how constitutional experiments, ethnic balancing, economic policy, and civil-military relations interacted to define the early limits of democratic practice in Sierra Leone. Rather than offering a single sweeping interpretation, the book reconstructs each year as a discrete historical moment—anchored in archival sources, official records, and Pan-African political debates of the 1960s. Sierra Leone’s experience is situated alongside developments in Ghana, Nigeria, Guinea, and the Congo, highlighting how shared postcolonial pressures produced divergent outcomes across Africa. This volume also confronts the darker legacies of the decade: political purges, military interventions, judicial erosion, and the first victims of state violence in independent Sierra Leone. These events are not treated as inevitable failures, but as decisions made within constrained historical conditions—choices that shaped the republic’s long-term vulnerabilities and aspirations alike. Ideal for: • Readers of African history and postcolonial studies • Scholars and students of political development and governance • Sierra Leoneans seeking a documented national history • General readers interested in independence-era Africa Volume I covers: • Independence and constitutional foundations (1961) • Electoral politics and opposition formation (1962–1963) • Leadership transition and state centralization (1964–1965) • Military coups and democratic collapse (1966–1967) • Restoration of civilian rule and consolidation of power (1968–1970) Sierra Leone at Independence, Volume I is both a historical record and a cautionary study—documenting how nations are made not only by moments of celebration, but by the difficult choices that follow freedom.