In the aftermath of violence, we are left with the question of how to contend with its legacies while at the same time building a just and lasting peace. Typically, technocratic and cookie-cutter solutions are proffered with various transitional justice 'mechanisms' and peacebuilding 'toolkits' put on the table. But peace starts with people, not with institutions or programmes. In this highly engaging, original and insightful book, Jessica Moody privileges the voices of people experiencing conflict and seeking to build peace in Cote d'Ivoire. Through a collection of stories, Moody shows us how peace is imagined, understood, experienced and practiced in the everyday. The book is essential reading for anyone seeking to get to grips with the messy complexity of individuals and communities contending with legacies of violence.

Rachel Kerr, Professor of War and Society, Department of War Studies, King's College London, UK

This is an extremely engaging book that conveys how life is actually lived in a post-war African setting. The book goes beyond the usual focus on peacebuilding projects and instead concentrates on how everyday people navigate through challenges and get on with life. The book is timely, authentic and highly recommended.

Roger Mac Ginty, Durham University, UK

Life after War is a powerful and original contribution to the study of post-conflict peacebuilding, with real human experience at its heart. Drawing on in-depth fieldwork and original interviews with those whose lives were shaped in profoundly different ways by the country's civil war, Jessica Moody offers insight that is grounded in everyday lived experiences. It is this emphasis on the human experience, and Moody's sensitivity to local and individual context, that sets this study apart and makes it essential reading for those studying war-to-peace transitions. Life after War challenges scholars and policymakers alike to rethink what it means to build peace after violence. It is essential reading for students and researchers of peacebuilding, African politics and post-conflict societies, as well as practitioners seeking more humane and context-sensitive approaches to rebuilding lives after war.

Kieran Mitton, King's College London, UK

In this insightful and engaging reflection on post-war recovery in Côte d'Ivoire, Jessica Moody writes with scholarly authority and precision, but also with a straightforward, engaging and deeply personal voice that is rare for this kind of scholarship. Life After War can be read in so many different ways – for its concise and critical treatment of peace and conflict research; for its autobiographical view into the experiences of a gifted scholar and self-proclaimed “freelance peacebuilding consultant”; for the compelling narratives of ordinary people who experienced war and lived to tell the tale; as a practical lesson in peacebuilding and post-war recovery; or as a contribution to our understanding of Côte d'Ivoire's contested and complex post-independence trajectory. In whatever way, it deserves to be read.

Jesper Bjarnesen, The Nordic Africa Institute