Under the Black Flag: An Exclusive Insight into the Inner Workings of ISIS

by Sami Moubayed

Overview

The Islamic State movement (ISIS/ISIL/IS) burst onto the world stage in 2014. From its heartland in Syria, where it arose from the chaos of the Syrian Revolt, the organisation has expanded in ideology and membership and now poses a significant threat to the region, if not to the wider world. Moubayed, a Beirut-based journalist who has been analysing Syria and the region for 20 years, has unrivalled access to the movement and its participants. His book is the first inside account of an organisation which has dominated the headlines with a dangerous mix of barbarity and military prowess. In looking at the historical background of ISIS: where it came from, how it evolved, where it stands today and what its aims are for the future to reveal, it will provide, for the first time, a fully-fledged picture of what lies at the heart of the Islamic State.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780857729217
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date:	09/29/2015
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	997 KB

About the Author

Sami Moubayed is a Syrian historian and journalist. From 2012 to 2013, he was a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, Lebanon. His articles on Middle East affairs have appeared in a variety of newspapers, including al-Ahram Weekly, al-Hayat, Gulf News, The Daily Star, Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, and Asia Times. He is a blogger with The Huffington Post and an online panelist with The Washington Post.

Table of Contents

Introduction
The Caliphate
Gentlemen to Jihadis
The Islamic Rebound
The Rise and Coming Fall of Jabhet al-Nusra
The Birth of ISIS/ISIL
The House of Blood
Foreign Jihadis
Madame ISIL
Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

'Moubayed's book goes straight to the front of the queue as an excellent account of the wider politics that has created the conditions in which ISIS has flourished...Moubayed should be congratulated for breadth and scope of his interviews and research. He's put together a must-read on this all too topical and under-researched subject.'

James Denselow

'short and succinct... his [Moubayed s] academic specialisms put him in good stead to understand the creation of Daesh in its interwoven threads...The chapters on leadership are particularly instructive...Moubayed has done well to get access...He makes colourful asides which take his book beyond the status of a superficial history.'

(Peter Smith, Quadrapheme)

superb book, which describes precisely what life is like in the hell on Earth created by the zealots of Raqqa —

(Matthew D Ancona, Guardian)

From the Publisher

'fascinating... offer[s] a chillingly detailed portrait of how Daesh and its leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi have come very far from their origins in Al Qaida...detailed descriptions... meticulous research...the book is full of bizarre anecdotes which bring life under Daesh to life...Perhaps the most startling idea in this valuable book comes in its conclusion, where Moubayed takes several pages to describe how durable the Daesh state has made itself...A remarkable end to a very informed and interesting book

Francis Matthew

'Sami Moubayed's new book on ISIS is a great read. It is the best introduction to ISIS so far. He neither loses the reader in a cascade of foreign names nor overwhelms them with detail. What Moubayed does do with consummate skill is provide essential background and history to understand why Syria fell apart and where ISIS came from. Sami is the premier Syrian historian of his generation writing in English. He comes from an illustrious Damascene Sunni family and continues to live much of the year in Damascus, which gives him a unique and valuable perspective on events unfolding in his region.'

Joshua Landis

'Sami Moubayed has written a must-read book. As a Syrian historian, Moubayed astutely explores the rise of the Islamic State first by tracking the historical origins of its ideology. He then smoothly takes the reader to the vivid details of life on the ground to explain how ISIS grew and established its so-called state. It is a perfect way to elucidate this complex phenomenon.'

Hassan Hassan

'He is a brave man, and knows it...In his scandalously under-reviewed but deeply revealing new book, Moubayed details all of Isis's cruel and inhuman punishments and executions war crimes indeed but is intent on placing them in the context of a very bloody history.'

Robert Fisk

'short and succinct... his [Moubayed s] academic specialisms put him in good stead to understand the creation of Daesh in its interwoven threads...The chapters on leadership are particularly instructive...Moubayed has done well to get access...He makes colourful asides which take his book beyond the status of a superficial history.'

—Peter Smith, Quadrapheme

superb book, which describes precisely what life is like in the hell on Earth created by the zealots of Raqqa —

—Matthew D Ancona, Guardian

Matthew D Ancona