Table of Contents

Prologue: ‘I think the Worst has Happened’ ‘Then You Should Wait for the Outcome’ ‘His Preachings Were Things that People could Identify With’ ‘I Will not Tolerate a Brawl’ ‘I Don’t Know, They’re in the Bush Epilogue: ‘They Should Not Be Allowed to Die in this Condition’ A Note on Sources Bibliography

Promotional Information

Interspersed with history, this book delves into the roots of this unholy war being waged by a virtually unknown organisation, which is set to shape the destiny of Africa's most popular and economically most popular state - and perhaps affect the future of Africa.

About the Author

Mike Smith is a foreign correspondent for AFP news agency and was bureau chief in Western Africa from 2010 to 2013, based in Nigeria. He has extensively covered the Boko Haram insurgency.

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.