Michael Scott Moore

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 pirates—a 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 International—and funded by a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting—Michael 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 spirits—physical injury, starvation, isolation, terror—Moore’s 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 Moore’s own struggle is only part of the story: The Desert and the Sea falls 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 him—the economics and history of piracy; the effects of post-colonialism; the politics of hostage negotiation and ransom; while also conjuring the various faces of Islam—and 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 Sea is written with dark humor, candor, and a journalist’s 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 Sea is wildly compelling and a book that will take its place next to titles like Den of Lions and Even Silence Has an End.

977 Days Captive on the Somali Pirate Coast

The Desert and the Sea

How did an obscure tribal sport from precolonial Hawaii—one that was nearly eliminated by Christian missionaries—jump oceans to California and Australia? And how did it become such a worldwide passion, even in places where the surf may be excellent but the society is highly conservative or superstitious about the sea? In Sweetness and Blood—a brilliantly written travel adventure—journalist (and surfer) Michael Scott Moore visits unlikely surfing destinations—Israel and the Gaza Strip, West Africa, Great Britain, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Cuba, and Morocco—to find out. Whether he is connecting eccentric surf legend Doc Paskowitz to the Arab-Israeli conflict, trying to deconstruct the terrorist bombing in a nightclub in Bali, or being chased by the German police while surfing a river break in Berlin, Moore masterfully weaves together politics, culture, history, and surfing to create a book like no other.

How Surfing Spread from Hawaii and California to the Rest of the World, with Some Unexpected Results

Sweetness and Blood

Lawrence Block

Jenny Bhatt

Hilary Davidson

JoAnn Chaney

Gar Anthony Haywood

John Palisano

Brian Asman

Shannon Hollinger

Vinnie Hansen

Nik Xandir Wolf

Lindsay Jamieson

David Zimmerle

Gary Grace

Ewan A. Dougall

The Dark Waves of Winter is a follow up to the critically acclaimed anthology, The Silver Waves of Summer (Kelp Books, 2021). In this installment, the beach again takes center stage in stories from some of the biggest names in literary and noir fiction. From Edgar and Shamus award winners, to a Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, the sun-bleached noir in these pages features old school legends, alongside the brightest emerging writers in the game. Our contributors include Lawrence Block, Hilary Davidson, Gar Anthony Haywood, JoAnn Chaney, Michael Scott Moore, Jenny Bhat, Lindsay Jamieson, Brian Asman, Nik Xandir Wolf, David Zimmerle, Billy Minshall, John Palisano, Vinnie Hansen, Ewan A. Dougall, Shannon Hollinger, and Gary Grace.5/5 Stars from Indie Reader. "As each tale contains a compelling feature that makes it shine on its own, THE DARK WAVES OF WINTER is a first-rate anthology for literary short story fans with consistently excellent writing throughout."

The Dark Waves of Winter

Michael Scott Moore

About

Books

Join the club