The first authoritative account of the Somali region, its history, and the Islamic extremists operating there today.
James Fergusson is a freelance journalist and foreign correspondent who has written for many publications including the Independent, The Times, the Daily Mail and The Economist. A regular television and radio commentator on Afghanistan and the Taliban, he is the author of four previous books including A Million Bullets, which was the British Army's Military Book of the Year. He is married with four children and lives in Edinburgh.
One of the best narratives of discovery I have read for years. The
sense of place is acute, the characters and landscapes vivid ...
rivals Ryszard Kapuscinski and Robert Byron at their best. --
Robert Fox * Evening Standard *
Fergusson has a talent for shedding light in dark places. While
most reporters have opted to stay away, Fergusson has risked his
life to cover the ground and, an even greater achievement,
succeeded in making the Somali mess understandable and relevant. It
is this insight, alongside his harrowing account of life in the
grief zone that gives Fergusson's book its power. -- Anthony Sattin
* Observer *
Essential reading for those who seek to counter the menace. With
ingenuity and no little courage he has travelled far and wide,
within Somalia and among the Somali diaspora in Britain and
America, delving into the soul of a ravaged community. * The
Economist *
What [Fergusson] has done, with heroic tenacity and no little
courage, is to spend much of the last two years wandering from one
end of the country to the other, interviewing politicians and
presidents, fighters and pirates, foreign advisers and security
guards, and above all scores of ordinary Somalis, whose lives have
been destroyed by 20 years of carnage and whose tales he eloquently
recounts. An elegant writer, with a scholarly understanding of
history, he brings to terrible light the catastrophe that is
Somalia. -- Caroline Moorehead * The Spectator *
Fergusson's book is an honest, illuminating and surprisingly funny
account of his travels through a lawless land in which the lure of
terrorism all too often proves irresistible. * Mail on Sunday *
A perceptive and engaging account. * Guardian *
Excellent. -- Mark Doyle * Observer *
If you meet James Fergusson on your travels, look out, you are most
definitely in the wrong place. The writer has earned something of a
reputation as a specialist on the dark side of the troubled world
in which we live. From the Balkans to Afghanistan and the
modern-day hell that is sub-Saharan Africa, the adventurous
journalist and best-selling author has put his life on the line to
become a global authority on Al Qaeda, the Taliban, boy soldiers in
Somalia - and the worst aspects of human behaviour in the most
inhospitable and dangerous regions. -- Jim McBeth * Daily Mail
*
This book is one of the most detailed and illuminating books I have
ever read. Comprehensive, detailed, and filled with information,
this is an excellent read. Read this book. * Army Rumour Service
(ARRSE) *
Coruscating reportage... Fergusson is a great journalist, and such
truly brilliant investigative work offers the seeds, the
suggestions of remedies for the contagion beneath the reporter's
microscope. -- Roger Hutchinson * Scotsman *
Riveting ... Fergusson rounds out this invaluable work by noting
the glimmers of hope appearing * Publishers Weekly *
[A] fine book... With his usual insouciant courage - for this
country is not for the faint-hearted - Fergusson takes us on an
invigorating journey through Somali life and history...
wide-ranging and fascinating. -- Frank Ledwidge * RUSI journal
*
Exceptional... Fergusson vividly recounts the grotesque horrors of
the endless war in Somalia while leavening his account with the
gallows humor of some of the war's participants. -- Nicolas van de
Walle * Foreign Affairs magazine *
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