ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror - Softcover

Weiss, Michael; Hassan, Hassan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1941393578 ISBN 13: 9781941393574

Publisher: Regan Arts., 2015

Synopsis

A revelatory look inside the world's most dangerous terrorist group.

With brutal attacks across the world—Paris, Beirut, Egypt, Turkey—the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has proved itself the greatest threat today. They have conquered massive territories in Syria and Iraq in a bid to create a new Muslim caliphate under the strict dictates of Sharia law.

In ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, American journalist Michael Weiss and Syrian analyst Hassan Hassan explain how these violent extremists evolved from a nearly defeated Iraqi insurgent group into a jihadi army of international volunteers who, with slickly produced murder videos, are spreading violence and mayhem across the globe. Beginning with the early days of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of ISIS’s first incarnation, Weiss and Hassan explain who the key players are—from their leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to the former Saddam Baathists in their ranks—where they come from, how they have attracted both local and global support, and how they operate—from their social media strategy to their illicit oil revenues.

Political and military maneuvering by the United States, Iraq, Iran, and Syria have fueled ISIS’s explosive expansion. Drawing on original interviews with former US military officials and current ISIS fighters, the authors also reveal the internecine struggles within the movement itself, as well as ISIS’s bloody hatred of Shiite Muslims, which is generating another sectarian war in the region. A new generation of terror has dawned in the world and to understand how to stop it, we must understand who they are.

About this title

About the Author

MICHAEL WEISS is a senior editor at The Daily Beast, a CNN contributor, and the editor-in-chief of The Interpreter, an online Russian translation and news journal presented by Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty. He has written for Foreign Policy, The Guardian, Foreign Affairs, Politico and a host of other publications.

HASSAN HASSAN is an Associate Fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa Programme, a fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, and a columnist for The National newspaper. His writing has appeared in The Guardian, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, and the New York Times.

Review

Times of London Best Books of 2015

Wall Street Journal Top 10 Books on Terrorism

"Weiss and Hassan provide a detailed explanation of how the Islamic State “manages savagery” on the ground...this account of the Islamic State in Iraq is a valuable summation and the most serious book-length study of the Islamic State to be published so far." Source: New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

"The first book to fully explain what ISIS is seeking and why they are such a threat to the world. An absolute must-read for anyone who wants to understand the risk we all face from radical Islam." Author: Douglas E. Schoen, political analyst, author of Source: The Russia-China Axis: The New Cold War and America’s Crisis of Leadership

"A . . . detailed and nuanced story." Author: James Traub Source: Wall Street Journal

"Weiss and Hassan have produced a detailed and readable book. Their informants include American and regional military officials and intelligence operatives, defected Syrian spies and diplomats, and – most fascinating of all – Syrians who work for Isis (these are divided into categories such as politickers, pragmatists, opportunists and fence-sitters). The authors provide useful insights into Isis governance – a combination of divide-and-rule, indoctrination and fear – and are well placed for the task. Hassan, an expert on tribal and jihadist dynamics, is from Syria’s east. Weiss reported from liberated al-Bab, outside Aleppo, before Isis took it over."—Robin Yassin-Kassab, author of The Road from Damascus, is writing (with Leila al-Shami) a book on the civil activists of the Syrian revolution Source: Guardian

“recounted in painstaking detail...the book presents a granular analysis of the IS’s organization, ideology, funding and recruitment.” Author: Muhammad Idrees Ahmad, author of The Road to Iraq: the Making of a Neoconservative War Source: In These Times

”ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan, does a first-rate job of describing the Islamic State’s layers... in Syria and in Iraq.” Author: Paul Berman, author of A Tale of Two Utopias, Terror and Liberalism, Power and the Idealists, and the Flight of the Intellectuals Source: Tablet

“Concise, valuable, and a compelling read for anyone- general reader or specialist- interested in ISIS.” Author: Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi Source: Syria Comment

“Incredibly rich and valuable for the specialist and non-specialist alike...it is a rich and nuanced piece touching on all the points that the arrival of ISIS has raised in Syria and Iraq.” Author: Tam Hussein Source: The Huffington Post

About this edition

• Publisher: Regan Arts.
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1941393578
• ISBN 13: 9781941393574
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288