The Islamic State organization, also known as ISIS (recognized as terrorist and banned in many countries, including the Russian Federation), is perhaps the worst thing that has happened to the world in recent years. But since it happened, it is at least useful to learn about this organization.
And the authors of the book, the American journalist Michael Weiss and the Syrian-born orientalist Hasan Hasan, are doing quite well with the task of informing. Based on facts (which most reporters and analysts writing about ISIS fail to reach for various reasons), they trace the history of the formation of the organization, its military and economic structure, draw portraits of leaders. Here, for example, is the description of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi: “Like most of the mass murderers remembered by those who knew them in their early youth, he, according to the recollections of friends and acquaintances, was a quiet, modest person who did not at all resemble a dangerous fanatic… Al-Baghdadi wore glasses, played football well and acted like a scientist.” Perhaps the book does not answer only the most important question: how can the earth bear those who commit such monstrous atrocities for which the «Islamic State» is «famous». But this can hardly be considered a claim to the authors.
Alpina non-fiction, 352 p., 2015.