A Moonless, Starless Sky: Ordinary Women and Men Fighting Extremism in Africa
By Alexis Okeowo
Read by Kamali Minter
Unabridged
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Retail CD (In Stock)
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$35.00
ISBN: 9781478997023
| Runtime: | 7.92 Hours |
| Category: | Nonfiction/Political Science |
| Audience: | Adult |
| Language: | English |
Summary
Summary
Winner of the PEN Open Book Award
A Vogue Best Book of 2017
A New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice
One of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2017
A 2017 Literary Hub Pick of Best Nonfiction
A Christian Science Monitor selection of Audiobooks Telling a Personal Story
"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.
Editorial Reviews
Editorial Reviews
“Absolutely essential reading, period.” —Alexandra Fuller, New York Times bestselling author
“One of the best records I have ever read of a world that has been made and remade time and again out of struggle and faith.” —Hilton Als, Pulitzer Prize–winning author
“Okeowo’s in-depth, perceptive reporting gives a voice to … extraordinarily courageous—and resilient—women and men.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Okeowo has wandered as a reporter into some of Africa’s most difficult and dangerous corners and delivered something remarkable: real characters, women and men, fully rendered.” —Howard W. French, author of Everything under the Heavens
“Spectacular reporting. Full of fresh, unexpected detail.” —William Finnegan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author
“The portraits and voices she brings us from Africa are so vivid that the reader can easily forget the determination and bravery it must have taken to gather them in these unhappy corners of the continent.” —Adam Hochschild, New York Times bestselling author
“Riveting and so thoughtfully told.” —Vogue
“A rich and urgently necessary book…Okeowo has taken their stories, crafted them in all their courage and complexity, and placed them at the center of the story of what it is to be human.” — New York Times
“[Okeowo’s] own status as a biological African born in America who straddles two continents and two sensibilities—at minimum—infuses this work with a real urgency.” —Ms. Magazine
“The reporting is expert and empathetic, and Okeowo illuminates the people beyond the headlines.” —W magazine
“Clear-eyed, lyrical, observant, and compassionate—reportage at its finest.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Countless books have been written on the larger conflicts in these countries, but Okeowo succeeds in evoking empathy for real people living there.” —Library Journal
Finally, finally,
finally--a humane, skillful storyteller with sound reporting instincts has
dug into the middle of the stories we think we've already heard out of Africa.
Alexis Okeowo can write prose as arresting as Ryszard Kapuscinski's, she's got
Katherine Boo's big heart, but she has her own fresh way of approaching the
work, one that is terribly overdue. Absolutely essential reading, period. —Alexandra Fuller,New York Times bestselling author of Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight and QuietUntil the Thaw
From an
abolitionist who once owned a slave to women basketball players in a war zone,
Alexis Okeowo has an alert and thoughtful eye for the unexpected. The portraits
and voices she brings us from Africa are so vivid that the reader can easily
forget the determination and bravery it must have taken to gather them in these
unhappy corners of the continent. —Adam Hochschild,New York Times bestselling author of King Leopold's Ghost and Spainin Our Hearts
In A Moonless, Starless Sky, Alexis Okeowo has wandered as a reporter into some of Africa's most difficult and dangerous corners and delivered something remarkable: real characters, women and men, fully rendered. —Howard W. French,author of Everything Under the Heavens
Spectacular reporting.
Full of fresh, unexpected detail. If you want to get an immediate sense of the
lives, both quotidian and extraordinary, of Africans in some of the continent's
most troubled countries, read Alexis Okeowo's book. —William Finnegan,Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Barbarian Days
Remarkable.... Okeowo writes with beauty and grace....
Refreshingly, she does not give in to easy answers.... Clear-eyed, lyrical,
observant, and compassionate--reportage at its finest. —Kirkus (starred review)
Alexis Okeowo has
gone to the hardest continent and come away with a series of tales about the
fight against fanaticism and despair. The result is a deeply sensitive portrait
of modern Africa and a microscope on the human condition in the most difficult circumstances. —Dexter Filkins,Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Forever War
Alexis Okeowo's
startling and brilliant account of fierce horrors and tender hopes is one of
the best records I have ever read of a world that has been made and remade time
and again out of struggle and faith. Okeowo is just the kind of reporter we
need to hear from when it comes to Africa, the 'new' old world: truthful,
accurate, deep. —Hilton Als,Pulitzer-Prize winning author of White Girls
Evocative and affecting.... Okeowo's in-depth,
perceptive reporting gives a voice to ... extraordinarily courageous--and
resilient--women and men. —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
A Moonless, Starless Sky is a captivating look at the on-the-ground effects of extremist groups and the people who live their lives in spite of them. —Booklist
Okeowo's compelling prose is lean but
empathetic, reportorial and personal both in an individual and cultural sense;
her own status as a biological African born in America who straddles two
continents and two sensibilities--at minimum--infuses this work with a real
urgency.... Okeowo's message to readers, and the lesson she unsentimentally
gleans for herself, is that even under a forbidding sky--one without the
radiance of moon or stars-there is always enough light to navigate out of the
darkness toward a better world. —Ms. Magazine
Through four distinct stories, she shares the stories of
citizens as they resist groups like Lord's Resistance Army and Boko Haram,
while also attempting to bravely move forward with their personal lives. The
reporting is expert and empathetic, and Okeowo illuminates the people beyond
the headlines. —W magazine
Author
Author Bio: Alexis Okeowo
Alexis Okeowo is a staff writer for the New Yorker and a fellow at the New America Foundation. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, the New York Times Magazine, the Financial Times, Time, and Fortune, among many other publications. She is a graduate of Princeton University.
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Details
Details
| Available Formats : | Retail CD |
| Category: | Nonfiction/Political Science |
| Runtime: | 7.92 |
| Audience: | Adult |
| Language: | English |
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