I was working a shift at the Library a few weeks ago and this book caught my eye as one student was checking it out. I saw the title and was instantly attracted to it: The Pirates of Somalia: Inside Their Hidden World by Jay Bahadur. Prior to this book I have not seen any publications written on the piracy issue in Somalia. Somali pirates have garnered a great deal of attention on the news but there hasn’t been a lot of research done on the topic. What made this book really appealing to me was that the author conducts interviews with pirates and travels to Somalia himself. Somalia is not perceived to be the safest travel destination for journalists, and the author stresses this a lot, especially because he conducts most of his research with multiple body guards. What the reader learns is Somalia is a fascinating country in which piracy dominates a whole part of the economy. The author even highlights certain positive aspects of piracy, such as the fact that some pirates even donate their ransom money to charities that help handicapped people. I would suggest this book to anyone who is interested in learning about modern day pirates (not as cheesy as it sounds) and a journalist’s travel in an African country that’s off the beaten path.
You’re so lucky you work in the library and get to see great books like this one all the time!