Publishers Weekly
02/08/2021
Wall Street Journal correspondents Parkinson and Hinshaw debut with a riveting chronicle of the 2014 kidnapping of a group of Nigerian schoolgirls by the terrorist group Boko Haram. Drawing on extensive interviews with several of the girls, the authors describe how the Islamic jihadists descended on the girls’ school in northeastern Nigeria in order to steal a brick-making machine, and ended up taking 276 of them as hostages and holding most of them for more than three years. Over 100 are still missing, and the ones who escaped or were released tell harrowing stories of starvation, beatings, and forced marriages. Parkinson and Hinshaw sketch the history of Boko Haram and its leader, Abubakar Shekau, a former child beggar; detail the complex diplomatic maneuvers to secure the release of some of the girls; and describe how the 2014 #BringBackOurGirls Twitter campaign, which was amplified by Mary J. Blige and Michelle Obama, brought the girls’ plight to the world’s attention and led to a large ransom being paid to the terrorist group. Written with compassion and insight, this deeply investigated account brings renewed attention to an ongoing tragedy. (Mar.)
From the Publisher
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 Yousafzai
"It's a really fascinating read, gripping as it's certainly been described, and the humanity of the girls that's brought to bear is really interesting, really, really interesting . . . It is really a remarkable story. It is an amazing story." — Christiane Amanpour
"Phew. It is fascinating and gripping." — Archbishop Desmond Tutu
"This intimate and riveting account demonstrates the power of sustained international pressure in the name of human rights. Most importantly, it serves as a testament to the strength of the Chibok girls who resisted their captors and bravely asserted their humanity in the face of violent subjugation." — Nadia Murad, recipient of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize
“This account of the kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls and their courage and fortitude through the unspeakable brutality of their captivity is a nail-biter about survival told with Hitchcockian flair. Packed with their personal testimonies, along with fresh details of the hunt for them by a team of Swiss negotiators, Joe Parkinson and Drew Hinshaw have written a work of brilliant journalism.” — Lesley Stahl, correspondent, 60 Minutes
“Bring Back Our Girls is a journalistic masterclass: a detailed and compelling story of the unsung heroes who won the release of Nigeria’s schoolgirls after the social media circus had moved on.” — Tom Wright, New York Times bestselling coauthor of Billion Dollar Whale
"With this book, Parkinson and Hinshaw remind us why tenacious investigative journalism—and not reporting triggered by Twitteris so essential to democracy. It's a most readable recounting of the immense passion and years of painstaking work that it took to return these kidnapped young girls to their mothers." — Seymour Hersh, Pulitzer-prize winning investigative reporter
"Dramatic and detailed . . . This is a brilliant work of investigative journalism that supplies all the missing puzzle pieces, uncovering for the first time intimate and crucial details about the girls' time in Sambisa forest, and the brave men and women in Abuja and around the world who sacrificed so much to bring them back to their parents." — Helon Habila, Commonwealth Writers Prize and Caine Prize winning novelist
"Gripping." — NPR
"Extraordinary . . . A page-turner of a narrative." — Washington Post
"Illuminating . . . remarkable and humanizing." — Financial Times
“A riveting chronicle of the 2014 kidnapping of a group of Nigerian schoolgirls by the terrorist group Boko Haram . . . . Written with compassion and insight, this deeply investigated account brings renewed attention to an ongoing tragedy.” — Publishers Weekly
"In light of the proliferation of hashtag activism by individuals and corporations following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, this exploration of the unintended impact of social media activism is both poignant and relevant." — Kirkus Reviews
"Using diaries kept, at great risk, by two of the girls, [Parkinson and Hinshaw] offer insight into the incredible courage and faith the captives maintained while they endured more than three years of captivity. . . . Readers wishing to learn more about the Chibok girls beyond headlines and viral hashtags, as well as those looking for a better understanding of international relations, will be rewarded in this moving book." — Library Journal
"A brilliant investigation." — Sunday Times (London)
"What the influencers who endorsed #BringBackOurGirls might do, though, is encourage their followers to read this finely written, absorbing book. Not only does it chart how the celebrity Twittersphere impacted one of the poorest corners of the planet, it does the far knottier reporting job of revealing what went on backstage, be it in the Nigerian and US governments, or the minds of Boko Haram commanders." — Telegraph (UK)
"It is difficult to imagine a more thorough and significant piece of reportage, for our troubled world, than this new book." — The Scotsman (Scotland)
"Bring Back Our Girls has a cinematic quality to it, and sometimes feels like it was written in the mold of a Hollywood script. There is no doubt that it has all the elements of a powerful film, and at times I had to put the book down to remind myself that the events I was reading were indeed real." — Tablet magazine
Seymour Hersh
"With this book, Parkinson and Hinshaw remind us why tenacious investigative journalism—and not reporting triggered by Twitteris so essential to democracy. It's a most readable recounting of the immense passion and years of painstaking work that it took to return these kidnapped young girls to their mothers."
Lesley Stahl
This account of the kidnapping of the Chibok schoolgirls and their courage and fortitude through the unspeakable brutality of their captivity is a nail-biter about survival told with Hitchcockian flair. Packed with their personal testimonies, along with fresh details of the hunt for them by a team of Swiss negotiators, Joe Parkinson and Drew Hinshaw have written a work of brilliant journalism.
Tom Wright
Bring Back Our Girls is a journalistic masterclass: a detailed and compelling story of the unsung heroes who won the release of Nigeria’s schoolgirls after the social media circus had moved on.
Helon Habila
"Dramatic and detailed . . . This is a brilliant work of investigative journalism that supplies all the missing puzzle pieces, uncovering for the first time intimate and crucial details about the girls' time in Sambisa forest, and the brave men and women in Abuja and around the world who sacrificed so much to bring them back to their parents."
Malala Yousafzai
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.”
Nadia Murad
"This intimate and riveting account demonstrates the power of sustained international pressure in the name of human rights. Most importantly, it serves as a testament to the strength of the Chibok girls who resisted their captors and bravely asserted their humanity in the face of violent subjugation."
Christiane Amanpour
"It's a really fascinating read, gripping as it's certainly been described, and the humanity of the girls that's brought to bear is really interesting, really, really interesting . . . It is really a remarkable story. It is an amazing story."
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
"Phew. It is fascinating and gripping."
Sunday Times (London)
"A brilliant investigation."
The Scotsman (Scotland)
"It is difficult to imagine a more thorough and significant piece of reportage, for our troubled world, than this new book."
Financial Times
"Illuminating . . . remarkable and humanizing."
Telegraph (UK)
"What the influencers who endorsed #BringBackOurGirls might do, though, is encourage their followers to read this finely written, absorbing book. Not only does it chart how the celebrity Twittersphere impacted one of the poorest corners of the planet, it does the far knottier reporting job of revealing what went on backstage, be it in the Nigerian and US governments, or the minds of Boko Haram commanders."
Tablet magazine
"Bring Back Our Girls has a cinematic quality to it, and sometimes feels like it was written in the mold of a Hollywood script. There is no doubt that it has all the elements of a powerful film, and at times I had to put the book down to remind myself that the events I was reading were indeed real."
Library Journal
03/01/2021
Boko Haram kidnapped 276 schoolgirls in the Nigerian town of Chibok in 2014. After the Twitter campaign #BringBackOurGirls went viral, leaders recognized the hostages' value as ransom, for the release of captured fighters as well as for financial reward. Wall Street Journal writers Parkinson and Hinshaw followed the complex negotiations to obtain the release of the Chibok Girls, and their thorough account explains how negotiators, former Boko Haram fighters, and others, brought about the eventual release of most of the girls. Using diaries kept, at great risk, by two of the girls, the authors offer insight into the incredible courage and faith the captives maintained while they endured more than three years of captivity. Descriptions of religious coercion, starvation, and emotional suffering are written with sensitivity and care. Final chapters report on a few of the girls' experiences following their release in 2017. VERDICT The authors show that peaceful, below-the-radar mediation with understanding of cultural differences and persistent conversation between participants can result in successful outcomes. Readers wishing to learn more about the Chibok girls beyond headlines and viral hashtags, as well as those looking for a better understanding of international relations, will be rewarded in this moving book.—Jill Ortner, SUNY Buffalo Libs.
Kirkus Reviews
2020-12-25
Two Wall Street Journal reporters examine the geopolitics surrounding the tragic 2014 kidnapping of Nigerian schoolgirls by Boko Haram.
Bringing together years of investigative reporting and the diaries of some of the victims, Parkinson and Hinshaw detail the relationships among terrorism, geopolitics, social media, local conflict, and American military intervention. In 2014, Boko Haram, led by a deeply disturbed and avid YouTube user named Abubakar Shekau, kidnapped 276 Nigerian schoolgirls from their dorm in the middle of the night. What followed was a uniquely 21st-century phenomenon tied to and distorted by social media in novel ways. The authors describe how the international interest of the events on Twitter affected the reality of hostage negotiations and prospects for release. In fact, the millions of well-intentioned tweets to #BringBackOurGirls actually endangered the girls further, emboldening Shekau to keep them as prized hostages. This “hashtag activism,” write the authors, impeded rescue efforts, as “the intense global focus on whether the girls would be rescued was part of why they couldn’t be.” The authors, both seasoned journalists, occasionally slip into overly detailed descriptions and spend more time than necessary on secondary actors, which disrupts the narrative momentum established by the girls’ diaries. At times, the text reads like a collection of articles. Ultimately, however, the authors effectively distill the myriad experiences into an intricate portrait of an unprecedented global event. Parkinson and Hinshaw recount the atrocities endured by the girls without undue sensationalism, and they artfully explore the fascinating relationship between social media and the girls’ testimonies. They also offer an engaging analysis of how the #BringBackOurGirls campaign morphed into a full-scale American military intervention. In light of the proliferation of hashtag activism by individuals and corporations following the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, this exploration of the unintended impact of social media activism is both poignant and relevant.
A nuanced investigation into the humanitarian realities beyond the viral #BringBackOurGirls campaign.
