Books about Somalis since 2006: Somaliland, al-Shabaab, piracy and the diaspora

What these books are

Since 2006, books about Somalis have followed the main events of the period: the Islamic Courts Union and the Ethiopian intervention of 2006 (Islamic Courts Union, 2006), the rise of al-Shabaab (Al-Shabaab), piracy off the coast, the federal governments from 2012, and the growth of Somali communities abroad.

• Somaliland and Puntland. Mark Bradbury's Becoming Somaliland (2008) and Markus Hoehne's study of Sool and Sanaag (2015).
• Al-Shabaab. Stig Jarle Hansen (2013) and Harun Maruf and Dan Joseph (2018) wrote histories of the movement.
• Piracy. Jay Bahadur (2011), Jatin Dua (2019) and Awet Weldemichael (2019).
• The first Republic revisited. Abdi Samatar's Africa's First Democrats (2016) on Aden Abdulle Osman and Abdirizak Haji Hussein.
• The diaspora and refugees. Ben Rawlence on Dadaab (2016), Keren Weitzberg on Somalis in Kenya (2017), Giulia Liberatore on Somali women in London (2017) and Cawo Abdi on Somali migrants (2015).

The books, oldest first

Transnational Nomads: How Somalis Cope with Refugee Life in the Dadaab Camps of Kenya (2006)

Cindy Horst · English

Life, money and networks in the Dadaab camps.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Renewers of the Age: Holy Men and Social Discourse in Colonial Benaadir (2008)

Scott S. Reese · English

Islamic scholars and Sufi orders on the Banaadir coast under Italian rule.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Becoming Somaliland (2008)

Mark Bradbury · English

How Somaliland built institutions after 1991.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · HathiTrust · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Understanding Somalia and Somaliland: Culture, History, Society (2008)

I. M. Lewis · English

Short overview by Lewis of history and society.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

East Africa and the Indian Ocean (2009)

Edward A. Alpers · English

Essays on the Indian Ocean coast including the Banaadir ports.

Where to read: Find in a library (WorldCat)

The Ethiopian Revolution: War in the Horn of Africa (2009)

Gebru Tareke · English

Includes the Ogaden war of 1977 to 1978.

Where to read: Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Understanding the Somalia Conflagration: Identity, Political Islam and Peacebuilding (2010)

Afyare Abdi Elmi · English

Clan, Islam and peace-building since 1991.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

The Pirates of Somalia: Inside Their Hidden World (2011)

Jay Bahadur · English

Journalist's time with pirates in Puntland.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Getting Somalia Wrong? Faith, War and Hope in a Shattered State (2012)

Mary Harper · English

BBC Africa editor's account of Somalia after 1991.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Clan Cleansing in Somalia: The Ruinous Legacy of 1991 (2013)

Lidwien Kapteijns · English

The violence of 1991-1992 in Mogadishu and the south.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Al-Shabaab in Somalia: The History and Ideology of a Militant Islamist Group (2013)

Stig Jarle Hansen · English

History of al-Shabaab from 2005 to 2012.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Find in a library (WorldCat)

The World's Most Dangerous Place: Inside the Outlaw State of Somalia (2013)

James Fergusson · English

A journalist's account of Somalia and the diaspora around 2010.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

A House in the Sky (2013)

Amanda Lindhout & Sara Corbett · English

Memoir of a Canadian journalist held hostage in Somalia from 2008 to 2009.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Between Somaliland and Puntland: Marginalization, Militarization and Conflicting Political Visions (2015)

Markus V. Hoehne · English

The contested Sool and Sanaag regions.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Elusive Jannah: The Somali Diaspora and a Borderless Muslim Identity (2015)

Cawo Mohamed Abdi · English

Somali migrants in the UAE, South Africa and the US and their faith.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Somali Oral Poetry and the Failed She-Camel Nation State (2015)

Ali Mumin Ahad · English

Reading of Somali poetry and the idea of the nation.

Where to read: Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

A Man of Good Hope (2015)

Jonny Steinberg · English

The life of Asad Abdullahi, a Somali who grew up as a refugee and moved to South Africa.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Africa's First Democrats: Somalia's Aden A. Osman and Abdirazak H. Hussen (2016)

Abdi Ismail Samatar · English

The civilian governments of 1960-1969 and their two leaders.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

City of Thorns: Nine Lives in the World's Largest Refugee Camp (2016)

Ben Rawlence · English

Lives in the Dadaab camps in Kenya.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Read free on Internet Archive · HathiTrust · Open Library · Wikipedia · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Somali, Muslim, British: Striving in Securitized Britain (2017)

Giulia Liberatore · English

Young Somali women in London and how they practise Islam.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

We Do Not Have Borders: Greater Somalia and the Predicaments of Belonging in Kenya (2017)

Keren Weitzberg · English

Somalis in Kenya from colonial times.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Inside Al-Shabaab: The Secret History of Al-Qaeda's Most Powerful Ally (2018)

Harun Maruf & Dan Joseph · English

History of al-Shabaab by two VOA journalists, one of them Somali.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Captured at Sea: Piracy and Protection in the Indian Ocean (2019)

Jatin Dua · English

Piracy off Somalia, insurance and the shipping trade.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Piracy in Somalia: Violence and Development in the Horn of Africa (2019)

Awet Tewelde Weldemichael · English

History of piracy off the Somali coast.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Mobile Urbanity: Somali Presence in Urban East Africa (2019)

Neil Carrier & Tabea Scharrer (eds.) · English

Somalis in Nairobi, Kampala and other East African cities.

Where to read: Full page on this book · Open Library · Find in a library (WorldCat)

Related pages

• Books about Somalis, 1960 to 1990
• Books about Somalis, 1991 to 2005
• Books about Somalis since 2006
• Somali authors and their books
• Books about Somalis: every era