Berenice Stories

Berenice Stories explores the consequences of Muammar Gaddafi’s demise in Libya and sub-Saharan Africa. It began as a collection of  tales told on the terrace of the old Berenice Hotel in Benghazi long ago and a means of drawing attention to the book by John Oakes called ‘Libya – The History of Gaddafi’s Pariah State’ published by the History Press in February 2012.

For books by John Oakes see…

(USA): http://www.amazon.com/John-Oakes/e/B001K86D3O/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

(UK): http://www.amazon.co.uk/John-Oakes/e/B001K86D3O/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_pop_1

This is the ‘blurb’……

‘When the oil rich Kingdom of Libya descended into corruption and irresolution a young Libyan army officer named Muammar Gaddafi seized power in a brilliant coup on 1 September 1969.  Under his rule Libya became a pariah state, harbouring terrorists from nearly every dissident group in the world and accumulating an enormous arsenal of lethal weaponry. He was autocratic and cruel, and his people rose up against him in February 2011. How did he survive for so long? One reason is to be found in his personality and one in the history of Libya.

In this book John Oakes traces the colourful history of Libya from its occupation by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the end of Gaddafi’s regime. In it we read of the events which shaped Gaddafi’s personality, the influences which moulded his career, the security apparatus which kept him in power and the human rights violations he committed. It is a story of Roman legions, Barbary pirates, slave traders, camel caravans, Ottoman Beys, Italian colonists, Bedouin tribes, Texan oil barons, the Lockerbie disaster and mass murder in Gaddafi’s Abu Salim jail. It is also the story of the human cost of freeing Libya from Gaddafi.’