Hansen explores the history of the Somalia based Al Harakat Al Shabaab from 2005 to 2012, offering the first in-detail history of one of the most important Al-Qaeda affiliates today and the first to conquer large territories. He anchors the organisation in its local context, describing it as set in the nexus of global and local streams of influence, employing terror strategically, often in order to offset diplomatic and military defeats. He then follows it as an early network into the post-2010 phase where it struggles against a superior enemy but still remains an actor to be reckoned with.