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.  

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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.

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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)