The World Was In Our Hands: Voices From The Boko Haram Conflict

A moving, often provocative, and ultimately vital collection of first-hand accounts of people living through the Boko Haram conflict. From abducted girls to brash soldiers, and from community leaders to simple fishermen, this collection provides an insight into the realities of those living through the conflict, making this an essential cultural archive. The World Was in Our Hands covers themes of patriarchy, the economy, climate change, and corruption, to paint a picture that is much broader than what has been captured through news coverage.

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  • “A remarkable chronicle of the people who have lived through some of the most harrowing events in recent history, often spoken about, yet rarely listened to. With immense sensitivity and profound care, Chitra Nagarajan has given the world their beautiful, moving, devastating stories. It is important that all of us read them.“

    Angela Saini, journalist and author of The Patriarchs: How Men Came to Rule

  • “Intimate, gripping, and utterly original, The World Was In Our Hands transports us into the societal origin story of one of the world's most convulsive conflicts. With compassion and staggering nuance, Nagarajan traces the emergence of militancy in northeast Nigeria through beautifully-detailed individual lives. It is a profound accomplishment to produce a portrait of a society and a conflict with the tenderness of an insider storyteller, and the searching gaze of a scholar and researcher, and that is exactly what she has done. For anyone seeking to understand how communities can get caught in the grip of political violence, and also start to find their way out, it is an essential book, equal parts a contemporary history of the northeast and a heartbreaking masterclass of narrative journalism.”

    Azadeh Moaveni, journalist, writer and author of Lipstick Jihad and Guest House for Young Widows

  • “The World Was in Our Hands represents the exemplary work of a skilled and sensitive interviewer and researcher… The book has tremendous value for anyone interested in present- day Africa, as well as anyone hoping to understand how ordinary people experience war and its effects.”

    Alex Thurston, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Cincinnati