Culture and History Books
The Islamic Movement in Somalia
by Abdurahman Abdullahi
2015 Adonis & Abbey. 430 p.
Ch. 2 is particularly interesting, with a summary of Christian mission history from a Muslim perspective. (Amazon)
Culture and Customs of Somalia
By Mohamed D. Abdullahi
2001 Greenwood 224 p.
“Written by a native Somali, Culture and Customs of Somalia gives...readers an in-depth look at the land and people, past and present.” (Amazon)
The World's Most Dangerous Place
by James Fergusson
2013 De Capo Books 432 p.
A British journalist with a decade’s experience in Afghanistan gives a comprehensive description and analysis of the Somali situation: Salafi jihadists, clan-ism, FGM, piracy, and Diaspora issues [education, parenting, gangs]. Extremely grim in places, hopeful in others. (Amazon)
The Prophet's Camel Bell: A Memoir of Somaliland
By Margaret Laurence
2010 New Canadian Library 312 p.
The memoir of cross-cultural communication between the people of Somaliland and a Canadian writer who spent two years in Somalia in the 1950s alongside her engineer husband. (Amazon)
A Modern History of the Somali: Nation and State in the Horn of Africa (Revised, Updated & Expanded)
By I. M. Lewis
2003 Ohio University Press 368 p.
A history of Somalia, complete with charts, diagrams, and maps. (Amazon)
Warriors: Life and Death among the Somalis
by Gerald Hanley
2004 Eland Pub 200 p.
Gerald Hanley spent the Second World War in Somalia, charged with preventing bloodshed between feuding tribes at a remote outstation. With intense curiosity and open-mindedness, he comes to this conclusion: "Of all the races of Africa, there cannot be one better to live among than the most difficult, the proudest, the bravest, the vainest, the most merciless, the friendliest: the Somalis." (Barnes and Noble)