"Eat the Heart of the Infidel": The Harrowing of Nigeria and the Rise of Boko Haram by Andrew Walker

ISBN: 9781849045582

Hurst & Company, April 2016

Paperback, 260 pages

Boko Haram's appetite for violence and kidnapping women has thrust them to the top of the global news agenda. In a few years they all but severed parts of Nigeria-Africa's most populous state and largest economy-from the hands of the government. When Boko Haram speaks, the world sees a grimacing ranting demagogue who taunts viewers claiming he will 'eat the heart of the infidels' and calling on Nigerians to reject their corrupt democracy and return to a 'pure' form of Islam. Thousands have been slaughtered in their campaign of purification which has evolved through a five-year bloody civil war. Civilians are trapped between the militants and the military and feel preyed upon by both.