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)