THE BEST of this book is the preface and first chapter, which clearly set out how the author intends to frame the post-colonial history of Somalia —  a country, he argues, that does not exist in reality even if recognised internationally.  

Thereafter, unfortunately, it’s pretty much downhill as Gerard Prunier leads the reader into an impenetrable forest of clan chiefs, warlords and religious groups, all lost in a jumbled narrative that too often assumes prior knowledge and frequently flits backwards and forwards in time.  

Prunier may know his subject inside out but it’s difficult to see the wood for the trees, partly because he fails from the outset to provide a simple and chronological summary of what has happened in Somaliland since the end of British and Italian rule or to paint a full enough picture of how society in the country functions, in particular through its clans.