A Moonless, Starless Sky
Ordinary Women and Men Fighting Extremism in Africa
-
-
4.5 • 13 Ratings
-
-
- $10.99
Publisher Description
WINNER OF THE 2018 PEN OPEN BOOK AWARD
"A rich and urgently necessary book" (New York Times Book Review), A Moonless, Starless Sky is a masterful, humane work of journalism by Alexis Okeowo--a vivid narrative of Africans who are courageously resisting their continent's wave of fundamentalism.
In A Moonless, Starless Sky Okeowo weaves together four narratives that form a powerful tapestry of modern Africa: a young couple, kidnap victims of Joseph Kony's LRA; a Mauritanian waging a lonely campaign against modern-day slavery; a women's basketball team flourishing amid war-torn Somalia; and a vigilante who takes up arms against the extremist group Boko Haram. This debut book by one of America's most acclaimed young journalists illuminates the inner lives of ordinary people doing the extraordinary--lives that are too often hidden, underreported, or ignored by the rest of the world.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
With four beautifully told storylines, journalist Alexis Okeowo leads us well beyond the headlines of African tragedies and atrocities. She reveals the hopes, dreams, and humanity of everyday people who are surviving and resisting repressive status quos, such as Nigerian schoolgirls who escaped a 2014 Boko Haram kidnapping and an outspoken Somali basketball player chafing against sexist Islamist ideologies. Okeowo, an American born to Nigerian parents, interweaves her personal engagement with her heritage, African histories, and her subjects’ struggles. This elegant, poetic book buoyed our faith in human resilience.
