Boko Haram: The History of an African Jihadist Movement (Princeton Studies in Muslim Politics) Paperback – August 27, 2019

This book is well written and organized. It helped me with my research.

Good read that details the evolution of this jihadist terrorist group. Details the political, social, economic and religious outline.

Well written and informatively detailed. Critical for understanding the region in its current state.

As someone with a fervent interest in the topic of Islamic terrorist groups, I’d been looking for a book on Boko Haram that went beyond a cursory analysis of the group’s origins, goals, history etc. Books on the Islamic State, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda permeate the market but it has been more difficult to locate books of equivalent detail and context on Boko Haram. Furthermore, I’m an admitted newcomer to African terrorist groups in general. It was a pleasure to discover this work while perusing the local Barnes and Noble. Alexander Thurston has written an excellent book, one that provides a complete picture of Boko Haram’s ascent in the context of Nigerian history, to an analysis of its future and its impact on Nigeria and its neighbors in the Lake Chad region.The books strengths are manifold. For one, providing a history Nigeria, from pre- to post- British Colonialism, and the politics in the predominantly Islamic northern area, allows the reader to trace the evolution of grievances in Nigeria’s northern regions. Thurston avoids the trap of labeling Boko Haram as just one of many terrorist groups with global aspirations. The author goes in depth to detail to what extent the group is actually tied to other jihadist groups and what makes it exclusively a creature of Northern Nigeria. Also important is the life of Muhammad Yusuf, Boko Haram’s founder. Thurston does a thorough job of analyzing the environment in which Yusuf would have grown, and details the various pressures and influences that led Yusuf to adopting more extremist and violent beliefs.Dividing the group’s evolution into “phases” allowed the author to show how Boko Haram has adapted with each successive defeat or victory. The accounts of the Nigerian government’s responses are damning, swinging initially from passive indifference to brutal attempts at suppression. Also interesting is the responses of the governments of Chad, Cameroon, and Niger, as the group’s violence slowly moved outwards from Maiduguri to begin drawing in Nigeria’s neighbors.For those that have studied other Sunni extremist groups, I found the relationship between Muhammad Yusuf’s successor, Abubakar Shekau, and the leadership for Al Qaida’s affiliate in the Maghreb, similar to that of the relationship between Al Qaida in Iraq’s Abu Musab al Zarqawi and Al Qaeda Central’s Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri. Thurston describes the contentious relationship between the reckless, brutal Shekau, and the calmer, more strategic Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb leadership. The decline in relations between Boko Haram and this Al Qaeda affiliate will be familiar to anyone that has studied Al Qaida in Iraq and its successor, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Too brutal even for Al Qaeda, Boko Haram’s erratic and indiscriminate nature under Shekau kept the two jihadist movements from pursuing what started out as a promising partnership.The gripes that I have with the work are insignificant. As detailed as the book was, I felt that it was still too short in length in some sections, and that other events pivotal to Boko Haram’s rise could have been explored in more detail. The Maitatsine rebellion, for example, was mentioned briefly as a movement to which Boko Haram has been compared but that, unlike Boko Haram, did not tie itself to any global system of extremism thought. As an austere, Islamic movement indigenous to Nigeria that led to violence, more about the rebellion would have made for an interesting comparison with Boko Haram. Episodes of intercommunal violence between the Christian and Muslim communities in the country would have been helpful to read more about in detail. A small correction, on page 270, Thurston attributes the Charlie Hebdo murders to jihadists who pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The attack has actually been attributed to Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.Whether you are a beginner, like myself, to Boko Haram, or need something to thoroughly refresh your expertise, Boko Haram: The History of an African Jihadist Movement is well worth the read.

One of the best books on jihadist movements out there - it does not just focus on the actions and terrorism of jihadists, but who they are, where they come from, and how they view themselves and their place in the wider world.

terrible horrible hated it the worst bad not good so bad. Those are my thoughts. Do not get it! It is a rip iff.

The best book on the topic, not only provides information on the organisation itself but provides key details on Nigerian history as well.