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This book is a 'primer' on Somali culture and recent history. It is a dense book that reads easily. It should be required reading for anybody who deals with Somalia, from diplomats to journalists and from NGO workers to United Nations staff. Because if there is one clear lesson that emerges from Lewis's precise and sweeping assessment, it is that Somalia is a walking and moving exception to many rules about the nation-state and that trying to deal with it in 'usual' fashion not only does not help but on the contrary tends to compound the problems.' --Gerard Prunier, author of Darfur: The Ambiguous Genocide and of From Genocide to Continental War: The 'Congolese' Conflict and the Crisis of Contemporary Africa
Product Description
Located on the horn of East Africa, Somalia has been plagued by political unrest and violence for many years now. Local, clan-based political conflicts have been complicated by western interaction as pact of the 'War on Terror', but few comprehend these events that are taking place. Written by the global authority on Somalia, this succinct volume highlights the salient aspects of the history and culture of the Somali people, distilling for the non-specialist in a readily accessible form Ioan Lewis s vast erudition on all things Somali. He also addresses developments in the Somali political region since the collapse of the Republic in 1991, including accounts of the functioning and democratic state of Somaliland, which still awaits international recognition, of the various autonomous regions, such as Puntland, and of the Islamist movement that under the banner of the Islamic Courts Union brought a brief but astonishing period of stability to much of Southern Somalia in late 2006. There are also chapters on the urban culture of Benadiri Somalis that illustrate the complexity of what constitutes 'Somaliness'. In early 2007 America and its regional ally, Ethiopia, intervened militarily to install a regime in Mogadishu more to their liking than the allegedly Al Qaeda-influenced Islamic Courts government. This book provides the essential historical and political background to a little-understood culture and people whose predicament continues to hold the world s attention.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
This book is a very useful overview of Somalia and its recent history. It is a very good introduction to the subject.
3 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Lewis is the leading non Somali expert on Somalia and this small book is an excellent place to begin finding out about Somalia.
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