The World's Most Dangerous Place

<p><b>SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2014 AND THE PADDY POWER POLITICAL BOOK AWARDS INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS BOOK OF THE YEAR. </b><br><br>Award-winning journalist James Fergusson is among the few to have witnessed at first hand the devastating reality of life in the failed and desperate state of Somalia.<br><br>This corner of the world has long been seen as the rotting and charred heart of Africa: a melting pot of crime corruption poverty famine and civil war. And in recent years whilst Somalia&#146;s lucrative piracy industry has grabbed the headlines a darker much deeper threat has come of age: the Al Qaida-linked militants Al Shabaab and the dawn of a new phase in the global war on terror.<br><br>Yet paradoxically Somalia&#146;s star is brightening as forms of business law enforcement and local politics begin to establish themselves and members of the vast Somali diaspora return to their homeland.<br><br>Fergusson takes us to the heart of the struggle meeting everyone from politicians pirates extremists and mercenaries to aid workers civilians and refugees. He gives a unique account of a country ravaged by war considers what the future might hold for a generation who have grown up knowing little else and exposes the reality of life in this hard often forgotten land.</p>