A moonless, starless sky : ordinary women and men fighting extremism in Africa / Alexis Okeowo.

"October 2017"--Title page verso.

Uganda : an LRA love story -- Mauritania : not restrained by chains -- Nigeria : no regrets -- Somalia : war and basketball -- Uganda : in a perfect life -- Mauritania : caravan of freedom -- Nigeria : nobody rescued them -- Somalia : the last two stadiums in Mogadishu.

New Yorker staff writer Alexis Okeowo weaves together four narratives of ordinary people doing the extraordinary, forming 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.

"A masterful, humane work of nonfiction by New Yorker staff writer Alexis Okeowo. Casting aside stereotypes and superficial headlines, Okeowo reveals a rich, vivid account of everyday people swept up in the war and extremism -- and how they fight back. Based on the six years she spent living and reporting from across the continent, Okeowo weaves together four narratives that form a powerful tapestry of Africa today: a young Ugandan couple, kidnapping victims of Joseph Kony's LRA; a Mauritanian waging a lonely campaign against modern slavery; a teenage basketball player flourishing in war-torn Somalia, despite threats against her life; and a dual portrait of a Nigerian girl who escapes the clutches of Boko Haram and a government bureaucrat who decides to take up arms. The first book from one of America's most acclaimed young journalists, A Moonless, Starless Sky 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"-- Provided by publisher.