Screen LibraryBring back our girls : the astonishing survival and rescue of Nigeria's missing schoolgirls /
Spring, 2014 millions of Twitter users unwittingly helped turn a group of 276 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram, a little-known Islamist sect, into a central prize in the global War on Terror by retweeting a call for their release: #BringBackOurGirls. Soldiers, spies, and glory hunters descended in...
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Swift Press,
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| Publisher Address: | [London] : |
| Publication Dates: | 2021. |
| Literature type: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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| Summary: |
Spring, 2014 millions of Twitter users unwittingly helped turn a group of 276 schoolgirls abducted by Boko Haram, a little-known Islamist sect, into a central prize in the global War on Terror by retweeting a call for their release: #BringBackOurGirls. Soldiers, spies, and glory hunters descended in a remote part of Nigeria that had barely begun to use the internet. Hostage talks and military intervention failed; the schoolgirls were forced to take survival into their own hands. As their days in captivity dragged into years, the young women learned to withstand hunger, disease, and torment, and became witnesses and victims of unspeakable brutality. Many of the girls were Christians who refused to convert to their captors' fundamentalist creed. Parkinson and Hinshaw reveal how a few days of online activism can bring years of offline consequences for people continents away. -- adapted from jacket Bounty hunters, the manpower of western militaries and special Swiss agents were all deployed but they either met road block after road block or flew home empty-handed. Twitter flitted to the next crisis, leaving the Chibok girls to take survival into their own hands. As the days in captivity dragged into years, they became witnesses, and often victims, of unspeakable brutality that they chronicled in secret diaries. Many of the girls were Christians who refused to take the one easier path offered them - converting to Islam. A heart-stopping thriller, a riveting narrative history and an incisive cultural analysis, Bring Back Our Girls is the definitive account of a kidnapping and digital campaign that changed our understanding of warfare, terrorism and online activism. With a plot that unfolds on four continents, from the remote forests of northern Nigeria to the White House; from clandestine meetings in Khartoum safe houses to century-old luxury hotels on picturesque lakes in the Swiss Alps, it is cautionary tale plumbing the promise and peril of an era whose politics are fuelled by the power of hashtag advocacy - and at the centre of which stand some exceptionally brave and resourceful girls. 'Everyone should read the testimonies of the Chibok girls who survived the capture. We need to help with efforts to liberate all of them and become more responsible for women and girls' protection in conflicts' - Malala Yousafazai. |
| Item Description: | First published in the United States of America by HarperCollins Publishers 2021 |
| Carrier Form: | xii, 409 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : color illustrations, map ; 24 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references (pages [395]-397) and index. |
| ISBN: |
9781800750296 (paperback) : 1800750293 (paperback) 9781800750296 (hardback) 9781800750289 (eISBN) 1800750285 (eISBN) |
| CLC: | D743.788 |
| Call Number: | D743.788/P247 |
| Contents: | Prologue -- Part I: Kidnapped. "Gather outside" ; The day of the test ; The perfume seller ; Kolo and Naomi ; The caretaker of an orphan ; @Oby ; "Timbuktu" ; #BringBackOurGirls -- Part II: An open-air prison. The blogger and the barrister ; Thumb-drive deal ; Mala Ahmed's rules ; The mothers' march ; "You must write one too" ; Tree of life ; The senator's house ; Maryam and Sadiya ; "These girls are global citizens" ; Christmas -- Part III: A global conflict. The foreign fighters ; Agents of peace ; The general ; Shadrach, Meschach, and Abednego ; Sisters ; The imam ; The escapade ; The deadline ; The windows are closed -- Part IV: A breakthrough. "I'm not going anywhere" ; The fire ; "Never trust a breakthrough" ; Meeting in Manhattan ; Praise God ; The one you've been looking for ; "Now there is trust" ; Naomi and Kolo ; Epilogue ; Postscript. |