The Historical Roots of Terrorism in West Africa

Abstract

Boko Haram has inscribed its name on the depressing record of current terrorist movements through suicide bombings, mass killings, abduction of civilians and sexual slavery. Alexander Thurston’s study, Boko Haram: The History of an African Jihadist Movement, is a noteworthy attempt to disentangle the rise of this movement to global infamy by examining the complexities of radical Islam in the Lake Chad region.