Boko Haram

Inside Nigeria's Unholy War

By: Mike Smith

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Hardcover | 28 January 2015

At a Glance

Hardcover
256 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
21.6 x 13.5 x 3

New Edition

Published: 28th January 2016

Hardcover

$136.75

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An insurgency in Nigeria by the Islamist extremist group Boko Haram has left thousands dead, shaken Africa’s biggest nation and worried the world. Yet they remain a mysterious-almost unknowable-organization. Through extensive on-the-ground reporting, Smith takes readers inside the violence and provides the first in-depth account of the conflict.

He traces Boko Haram from its beginnings in Nigeria’s remote northeast to its transformation into a hydra-headed monster, deploying suicide bombers and abducting schoolgirls. Much of the book is told from the perspective of Nigerians who have found themselves caught between the violence of insurgents, brutal security forces and an inept government.

It includes the stories of a police officer left paralyzed, women whose husbands have been murdered and a sword-wielding vigilante using charms to fend off insurgent bullets. Smith questions whether there can be any end to the violence and the ways in which this might be achieved. Interspersed with Nigerian history, this book delves into the roots of the unholy war being waged against the backdrop of an evolving extremist threat worldwide.

About the Author

Mike Smith is an American journalist and foreign correspondent for AFP news agency and was bureau chief in Western Africa from 2010 to 2013, based in Nigeria.

Industry Reviews

'There is certainly an urgent need for a comprehensive yet accessible account of Boko Haram about which much is written but yet little understood. The author is eminently well qualified, especially from his connection with AFP, who have been at the forefront of reportage on the situation of Northern Nigeria, to tackle this subject. The book should find a ready readership among the policy and diplomatic community as well as academics and interested lay readers.' - Richard Reid, Professor of the History of Africa, SOAS, University of London 'I enjoyed [this book] very much - its a good read. It's much the best account I have read, and offers a real sense of place - and crisis. Mike Smith's book will be widely read and cited.' - Murray Last, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology, University College London 'Mike Smith has written an unsparing study of both Boko Haram's cruelty and the failure of the Nigerian state to defeat the movement. In this timely book he tells a demoralising but necessary story, of the violence and negligence that is rapidly undermining the stability of sub-Saharan Africa's most important country'. - Barnaby Phillips, author of Another Man's War: The Story of A Burma Boy in Britain's Forgotten African Army. 'provides detailed accounts...gripping.' Ulrich von Schwerin, Qantara.

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