The Desert and the Sea: 977 Days Captive on the Somali Pirate Coast

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Michael Scott Moore, a journalist and the author of Sweetness and Blood, incorporates personal narrative and rigorous investigative journalism in this profound and revelatory memoir of his three-year captivity by Somali piratesa riveting,thoughtful, and emotionally resonant exploration of foreign policy, religious extremism, and the costs of survival.

In January 2012, having covered a Somali pirate trial in Hamburg for Spiegel Online Internationaland funded by a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis ReportingMichael Scott Moore traveled to the Horn of Africa to write about piracy and ways to end it. In a terrible twist of fate, Moore himself was kidnapped and subsequently held captive by Somali pirates. Subjected to conditions that break even the strongest spiritsphysical injury, starvation, isolation, terrorMoores survival is a testament to his indomitable strength of mind. In September 2014, after 977 days, he walked free when his ransom was put together by the help of several US and German institutions, friends, colleagues, and his strong-willed mother.

Yet Moores own struggle is only part of the story: The Desert and the Seafalls at the intersection of reportage, memoir, and history. Caught between Muslim pirates, the looming threat of Al-Shabaab, and the rise of ISIS,Moore observes the worlds that surrounded himthe economics and history of piracy; the effects of post-colonialism; the politics of hostage negotiation and ransom; while also conjuring the various faces of Islamand places his ordeal in the context of the larger political and historical issues.

A sort of Catch-22 meets Black Hawk Down, The Desert and the Seais written with dark humor, candor, and a journalists clinical distance and eye for detail. Moore offers an intimate and otherwise inaccessible view of life as we cannot fathom it, brilliantly weaving his own experience as a hostage with the social, economic, religious, and political factors creating it.The Desert and the Seais wildly compelling and a book that will take its place next to titles likeDen of Lions and Even Silence Has an End.

Reviews

"If you read Michael Scott Moore's book, first clear your schedule, because you won't put it down until you've finished it. The Desert and The Sea is an astonishing and harrowing story, told with great humanity, by a writer who ventures where few will ever go."--Susan Casey, author of Voices in the Ocean: A Journey Into the Wild and Haunting World of Dolphins
"Highly addictive reading material....Michael Scott Moore delivers an amazing true-life thriller, one of the most suspenseful books written in recent years, that tracks across oceans and underworlds, culminating in a very rewarding, deeply profound end."--Jeffrey Gettleman, Pulitzer Prize winner and author of Love, Africa
"His account of his nearly three years of captivity is a testament to the strength of one man's indomitable spirit and Moore's great gifts of observation, his humor, wits, and evident gifts as a storyteller. Thank heavens he lived to tell the story, which everyone should now read and cheer."--Tom Barbash, author of Stay Up With Me
A harrowing and affecting account of two and a half years of captivity at the hands of Somali pirates. A deftly constructed and tautly told rejoinder to Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped, sympathetic but also sharp-edged.--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Among the virtues of this account is that even when discussing sensational happenings, Moore never overdramatizes. This exceptional memoir will attract many readers."--Library Journal (starred review)

Author Bio

Michael Scott Moore is a novelist and journalist who has written on politics and travel for publications such as the Atlantic, Slate, Spiegel online, Miller-McCune magazine, Business Week, and the Financial Times. He currently lives in Berlin, Germany, but he is moving back to Southern California before publication.