Black Flags

October 1, 2015

Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Warrick (The Triple Agent) describes the genesis and development of a terrorist group that is best known in the West as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). In 1999, the government of Jordan granted amnesty to a group of prisoners that included Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a man convicted by Jordanian authorities for masterminding terrorist activities in that country. The U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003 brought Zarqawi to the forefront of a lethal anti-American Sunni insurgency. Zarqawi's movement called itself al-Qaeda in Iraq. Zarqawi was killed in a U.S. airstrike against his hideout in 2006 and al-Qaeda in Iraq eventually morphed into today's ISIS. When the Syrian civil war began in 2011, ISIS took advantage of the power vacuum in Syria and Iraq by controlling strategic areas in both countries, declaring the establishment of an Islamic caliphate, and unleashing a reign of terror in the area that has resulted in countless acts of political brutality and savagery. Warrick uses a variety of documents and high-level access to CIA and Jordanian sources to present a coherent history. VERDICT An informative book for those who want to gain an understanding of one of the most dangerous extremist groups in today's world.--Nader Entessar, Univ. of South Alabama, Mobile

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August 31, 2015
Pulitzer-winner Warrick (The Triple Agent) examines the origins of ISIS in this incisive, horrifying, and eminently readable work. Though the group was officially founded in 2006, Warrick traces its roots back to the recruitment of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi by al-Qaeda in 1999. Warrick follows Zarqawi’s unlikely rise from lowly Jordanian street thug to Afghan mujahideen, to brilliant strategist and charismatic leader. With surgical precision, the author details how a perfect storm of circumstances—Zarqawi’s friendship with a noted radical Muslim scholar who was in prison with him, the king of Jordan’s sudden death and his son’s reluctant acceptance of the crown, and, most notably and disastrously, the U.S. occupation of Iraq—led to Zarqawi’s ascent. Readers trying to keep track of the heads of state, CIA operatives, tribal leaders, clerics, and diplomats will be glad for the list of principal characters in the book’s front matter, but they’ll rarely need to consult it, thanks to Warrick’s firm grasp and skillful explanation of the complicated subject matter. This is an eye-opening read for general audiences seeking to learn more about the current crisis in the Middle East. Agent: Gail Ross, Ross Yoon Agency.