Gerges (The Rise and Fall of Al-Qaeda) takes listeners inside a history of the Islamic State's (ISIS) development from a small branch of Al Qaeda in Iraq to establishing a caliphate and becoming a player on the international stage. Various facets of ISIS are analyzed, including its religious philosophy, motivations, justification for its members' actions, and social construction of its society. Emphasis is placed on the factors that helped ISIS come to power, such as Sunni-Shia sectarianism, abject poverty, and foreign influences. Listeners will essentially receive an expert-level crash course on the history of the organization. Narrator Bradley Hayes performs well in delivering dense content that sometimes can feel like a textbook. VERDICT Best for fans of modern history or those interested in the Middle East and terrorism.-Sean -Kennedy, Univ. of Akron Lib. © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

A thorough survey of the genesis of the Islamic State, from al-Qaida wannabe to lethal caliphate. The Islamic State emerged strong from the shattered democratic ideals of the Arab Spring and, before that, the devastating sectarian violence that resulted from the American invasion of Iraq. In this rigorous synthesis of what is actually known about the jihadi terror group, Middle East scholar Gerges (International Relations/London School of Economics and Political Science; Obama and the Middle East: The End of America's Moment?, 2012, etc.) looks at its power center and leaders and the troubling incursions by the group into Iraq, Syria, and Kurdish territories since the summer of 2014. He also examines its enormous wealth from oil and the black market and recruiting attraction for young, disaffected rural, religious men. In contrast to al-Qaida, which was nearly destroyed by the death of Osama bin Laden and swore vengeance on the "far enemy" (the U.S., Israel, and the Western powers), the Islamic State has focused its fury on the "near enemy," the apostate Shias. Gerges sees this as an ongoing genocide in contrast to the relatively few deaths of Western journalists and others. The group's leadership, especially Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has thus co-opted the global jihadi movement, moving into the chaotic vacuum left by the American invasion of Iraq, appropriating the Baathist tools of repression, and offering "aggrieved Sunnis a potent pan-Sunni (Islamist) identity." Though the Islamic State perversely took credit for the unleashing of popular discontent during the Arab Spring, Gerges points to the power grab resulting from the "grand collusion" between Arab autocrats and their patrons to maintain the status quo. The author looks carefully at the rise of leaders such as al-Baghdadi, but he concludes that the ideological-driven terror organization will eventually self-destruct because it cannot supply the civil state and institutions of freedom and social justice that the Arab people desperately want and need. A specific, timely, well-rendered exegesis of the unfolding global threat. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

This is a comprehensive account of how ISIS emerged in the Middle East, triggered by the US invasion of Iraq, Syria's civil war, the collapse of the Arab Spring, and sectarian Sunni-Shi'a struggles. Gerges (London School of Economics) systematically details the complex social and political dynamics leading to ISIS's prominence among the Salafi-jihadist family of rivals: its totalitarian-millenarian world view, commitment to total war by savagery, worldwide success in attracting recruits, and conflictual relations between jihadist leaders--bin Laden, Zarqawi, Zawahiri, and Baghdadi. To project ISIS's present onto the future, Gerges cites its strong social base of agrarian and urban Sunnis and powerful messianic ideology of hakimiyya driving fighters to victory and martyrdom; ISIS's vulnerabilities are the lack of positive plans and ideas for a bright future and a growing circle of enemies by continuous warfare. To counter the surge of Salafi jihadism, the author asserts the imperative need to fill the Arab-Islamic security vacuum, and the vacuum of ideas, through separation of mosque and state and a cultural revolution of reformation, a revival to transform state and society. This authoritative, empirically rich study based on primary Arabic sources should be must reading for policy makers, strategists, scholars, journalists, students, and anyone seriously concerned about the human condition. Summing Up: Essential. All readership levels. --Richard H. Dekmejian, University of Southern California