I deeply appreciated the opportunity to read and review this book. I'll be using it's contents in my teaching and will make sure to keep an eye out for more works from this author and publisher.

It was fascinating to read these stories - my exposure to various conflicts in African countries is terribly limited, so this was an approach I get a lot out of. Reading stories and experiences of real people who have lived through and survived the extremism and terror that we Americans can only imagine is a sobering thing, and educated me as well on more intricacies on the issues I might only know of in broad terms. Would make a great book club discussion title, and excellent for a survey course on any of the issues tackled in the book.

Alexis never really felt connected to the African continent until she took up a 10- month internship in Uganda. This prompted her to dig deeper into the people's issues and share stories from different parts of the continent. In Mauritania, Alexis encounters an anti-slavery campaigner who receives a lot of backlash from his government, a Ugandan couple whose lives were changed by Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army (LRA),  a Chibok escapee and Somalian girls who use basketball as their lifelines under the al-Shabaab. 

A Moonless, Starless Sky is divided into two sections where the reader gets to the life of these courageous men and women before and after these life-changing experiences and how they attempt to normalise their lives.  

Much of the spotlight has been on Rwanda because of the 1994 genocide and the countries with conflict minerals especially in Central Africa as well as in Sudan.  But I was keen on learning more the reintegration of perpetrators and victims of atrocities back into society and the supporting socio-political institutions.

After reading about mass atrocities in Rwanda and the Jewish Holocaust, Okeowo was able to succinctly articulate in this book what I had not been able to when she says "it is not simply a matter of victims versus perpetrators...Nearly everyone recognised that perpetrators were also victims" because hate can only beget hate. Mauritania, in particular, got my attention earlier in the year when I came across a Quartz article on the prevailing slavery situation, despite it being the last country in the world to abolish slave trade.

Similar to The Girl Who Beat ISIS, this book will definitely make you commiserate with the men and women who have gone out of their way to live their normal lives. But at the same time, the reader will get angry at the state of the world and how a swathe of the global society still holds on to some regressive ideas. 

Overall, I am pretty sure that when you pick this book you will gain a broader and more in-depth own voices perspective on some of the issues that plague the African continent and how some brave people have taken the matter into their own hands. It will make want to appreciate your life no matter how mundane you may perceive your life to be. Hopefully, A Moonless, Starless Sky will spur you to make a difference in other people's lives even by gestures in your own community.

Fully formatted review available at: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2063137655

Alexis Okeowo interviews citizens of four African countries to showcase acts of rebellion, both big and small. These courageous people of faith have seen their communities terrorized by extremist groups, but they refused to let those extremists determine their life's course.

In A Moonless, Starless Sky, Okeowo brings faraway places into stark view. Through her objective eye, we are introduced to complex people who've survived extraordinary situations. Many people might not be familiar with the political situations of these countries, so she adds context by delving briefly into the histories of each nation and extremist group. This book's one big flaw is the structure. The book is divided into two parts; half of each story is in part one and the other half is in part two. That's easy enough to overcome though! I read the accounts by country rather than the order presented.

Uganda 
This is the story of two people who were abducted by Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army as teens. After fifteen-year-old Eunice was abducted, she was forced to marry nineteen-year-old Bosco. What happens to these forced unions if the abductees escape and why do so many of these couples choose to stay together? How are the children of these marriages affected? Okeowo also explores the difficult relationships between the former child soldiers and the communities they may have been forced to harm. Most community members recognize the former child soldiers as victims too, but it's an understandably uncomfortable situation. What efforts are made to reintegrate them back into society and how do their neighbors handle their presence?

More information: Former Ugandan child soldiers rebuild lives after years of terror (ABC Austrailia, October) | The Bizarre and Horrifying Story of the Lord's Resistance Army (The Atlantic, October 2011)

Mauritania 

Mauritania became the last country to abolish slavery in 1981, but the government did little to actually eradicate the practice. Okeowo explains how slavery became such an accepted part of Mauritanian society and how demographic divisions contributed to its the practice's endurance. This section focuses on abolitionist Biram Dah Abeid's fight to end slavery in Mauritania, a crusade that has put him and his family in peril. What makes someone stand up for others, even at great risk to themselves? Okeowo also spends time with a woman Abeid helped rescue. Haby is one of the millions of people who were born into slavery. When she finally had the chance to escape in 2008 at the age of 34, she was insistent that she would never leave her owners. Captivity was all she had ever known. Through Haby's story, we learn how slaveowners are able to enslave people without chains and about the obstacles that arise when adjusting to sudden freedom.


More information: Mauritania: Slavery's last stronghold(CNN/YouTube, 2012)/ Article | The abolitionist fighting to free Mauritania's slaves (2017) - Biram Dah Abeid's story | The Global Slavery Index 2016 - estimations of the number of people living in slavery today.


Nigeria 

In recent years, Boko Haram has terrorized northern Nigeria and kidnapped thousands of boys and girls. Rebecca Ishaku was one of the hundreds of girls abducted from a boarding school in Chibok, Nigeria. This is an account of one young woman's risky escape and the enduring effects of terror. Okeowo also interviews a government clerk who refused to stand idle while his community was being relentlessly attacked by Boko Haram's members. Elder became a unit commander for the Civilian Joint Task Force, a volunteer group that sought to reclaim their communities from the terrorists when the government failed. The story of ordinary citizens fighting Boko Haram is remarkable, but issues arise when the behavior of some of the vigilantes begins to mirror the group they're fighting.

More information:  On Boko Haram front line, Nigerian vigilantes amass victories and power (Reuters, June 2017) | Boko Haram Fast Facts (CNN, September 2017) | Chibok girl 'happy' over schoolmates' release - interview with Rebecca (BBC, October 2016)

Somalia 

Aisha received her first death threat from terrorists when she was thirteen. Her supposed crime? Playing basketball. Somalia went from having one of the best women's basketball teams in the region to a place where it's unsafe for women to play sports at all. This is the story of young women who continue to play the game they love despite the risks. One thing I liked about this section was getting to see a different side of Somalia, like its vibrant nightlife.



More information:  The Fight Over Women’s Basketball in Somalia by the author Alexis Okeowo (New Yorker, September 2017) | Who are Somalia's al-Shabab? (BBC, December 2016)

These accounts of ordinary people trying to live their lives freely are both distressing and inspiring. Rebellion doesn't come without sacrifices and many of these people endured death threats, survived harrowing escapes, and/or remained steadfast against relentless outside pressure. In the face of adversity, these people stand firm in their beliefs and manage to preserve their autonomy. What I liked most about this book were the complete portraits of the interview subjects. Okeowo explores their flaws, hopes, and fears without judgment. They may not make the choices one would expect or that are easy for outsiders to understand, but they're all doing the best they can to live their lives of their own free will and/or cultivate a society where everyone can live freely. If you're possibly interested in this book, I recommend reading the author's article The Fight Over Women’s Basketball in Somalia to get a sense of her style.

Full Review TK.

Author Alexis Okeowo has lived in Africa as a journalist and this book goes in depth in four regions: Uganda, Mauritania, Somalia, and Nigeria. Okeowo lived for several years in Lagos as a "repat" (someone who returns to the mother country that their parents left behind). This unique vantage point - and being black - powers her unique access to previously un-reported or under-reported stories. A MOONLESS, STARLESS SKY offers fascinating profiles of ordinary people rising to heroic actions in the face of horrific situations.

Communities in Uganda struggle to overcome the legacy of an insurgency led by the LRA’s abducted child soldiers. A movement to abolish slavery in Mauritania gains momentum thanks to the dedication of one activist. Young athlete Aisha just wants to play basketball in Somalia, where the al-Shabaab militants demand that women stay home and stay covered. In northern Nigeria, citizens take the law into their own hands to resist and to push back against ruthless Boko Haram militants.

Okeowo is fearless in her pursuit of true and complex moments. This book represents her quest to illuminate injustice, and more essentially, to inspire hope for the future in these desperate times. She is a gifted, powerful storyteller, bringing light to incredibly complicated lives.

One really gets a feeling for what it is like to lose ones freedom and dreams. The Author, who was born in the USA but of Nigerian parents, decided she wanted to go back to her families roots and take a fellowship with Princeton-in-Africa.
This book is a result of her time there and it is about ordinary people standing up to extremism in Africa. While reporting in Different countries in Africa, she tells us about the different conflicts that have taken place and some that are ongoing, these stories beside the facts that she gives us, describe the conflicts through the voices of ordinary people and what they went through.
We hear from abolitionists fighting to free Mauritania's slaves, from young people kidnapped by the Lord’s Resistance Army trained, to kill rape and torture, to stay alive themselves. From the struggle to just be able to play women's basketball in Somalia, without fearing death threats. To the Boko Haram Kidnapping, of Dozens of Girls.
This book, with a history of the conflicts, and through some of the people who went through them, was a very educational read and made the stories very relatable.
I would like to thank NetGalley and Hachette Books for the ARC

An exceptional and well written book about people fighting for basic human rights in four distinct African countries. The four compelling stories included in this book are the accounts of what the author experienced while living and working in Uganda, Nigeria, Mauritania, and Somalia. The stories and experiences are well researched, real, honest, and eye-opening.

I found each story I read more remarkable and shocking than the previous ones. The author brings to light what regular people have have had to endure during the conflicts in these countries. Each tale and account of the inhumane atrocities that the Africans live with are rarely heard about in the U.S. and I thank the author for writing this book and for shedding light on the brave men and women who are fighting to bring an end to the brutal practices that exist in these African countries.

The comparison to Katherine Boo's, Behind the Beautiful Forevers made me weary, but I can wholeheartedly confirm that this author's compassion for her characters far surpasses that book!

Okeowo, the child of Nigerian immigrants to Montgomery, AL, has been immersed in African politics as a Princeton Africa Fellow and journalist. This work is a vivid compilation of four extraordinary situations, arranged around the theme of individual action against extremism--a personal campaign against slavery, personal redemption from a coerced life as a child soldier, finding team belonging in a women's basketball league and violent resistance to Boko Haram. This is journalistic--which is not a negative--but a reader unfamiliar with the systemic problems addressed here will need to do background reading, and will come away deeply moved, but left to make the leap to possible responses.