Brian H. Fishman, The Master Plan: ISIS, Al-Qaeda, and the Jihadi Strategy for Final Victory (New Haven & London: Yale U. Press, 2016) ("For many in the West, the Islamic State's emergence as a global force was a surprise. It seemed to come from nowhere in the cauldron of the Syrian civil war and immediately transform into a global threat." "But the Islamic State did not emerge form nowhere. The Islamic State's leaders celebrated the institution's tenth anniversary in June 2016, identifying its founding in October 2006. And even prior to that, a senior al-Qaeda leader living under a permissive form of house arrest in Iran framed a seven-stage master plan that began with the 9/11 attacks and called for the declaration of a caliphate in Syria between 2013 and 2016. If not a blueprint for events to come, the proposal has proved a startling prescient prediction for future events." Id. at ix-x. I guess President Obama and Secretary of State Hilary Clinton did not found ISIS after all. You knew that, did you not? From the book cover: "Drawing on troves of recently declassified documents captured from the Islamic State and its predecessors, counterterrorism expert Brian Fishman tells the story of this organization's complex and largely hidden past--and what the master plan suggests about its future. Only by understanding the Islamic State's full history--and the strategy that drove it--can we understand the contradictions that may ultimately tear it apart.").
Hugh Kennedy, Caliphate: The History of an Idea (New York: Basic Books, 2016) (From the "Introduction": "This book is quietly polemical. The message which runs through it is that the idea of caliphate is a rich and varied tradition. Many Muslims have embraced the argument that such an institution is the best way of ordering human society, but caliphate is a many-splendored thing. There is no one way, no single template or legal framework which defines caliphate. History tells us that there have been caliphs of many different sorts, warrior caliphs, pious caliphs, intellectual caliphs, pleasure-loving caliphs, incompetent caliphs, cruel and tyrannical caliphs. They are all part of the caliphal tradition. There has never been one generally agreed view of what powers the office should have, who is qualified to be caliph and how caliphs should be chosen. Perhaps it is this flexibility, even uncertainty, which has enabled the idea to survive so long and have traction in so many different Muslim societies." Id. at xvi-xvii.).
Shiraz Maher, Salafi-Jihadism: The History of an Idea (Oxford & New York: Oxford U. Press, 2016).
Roel Meijer, ed., Global Salafism: Islam's New Religious Movement (Oxford & New York: Oxford U. Press, 2013) (From the book jacket: "'Salafism' and 'jrhadi-Salafism' have become significant doctrinal trends in contemporary Islamic thought, yet the West largely fails to offer a sophisticated and discerning definition of these movements." "The contributors to Global Salafism carefully outline both the differences among Salafist schools and the broader currents of Islamic thought constituting this trend. Essays examine the regional manifestations of the phenomenon and its shared, essential doctrines. Their analysis highlight Salafism' inherent ambivalence and complexities, or the 'out-antiquing the antique' that has brought Islamic thought into the modern age while simultaneously maintaining its relationship with an older, purer authenticity. Emphasizing the subtle tensions between local and global aspirations within the 'Salafist method,' Global Salafism investigates the movement like no other study currently available.").
Graeme Wood, The Way of the Stranger: Encounters with the Islamic State (New York: Random House, 2017) ("Some will continue to see the Islamic State;s supporters as maniacs and doubt the value of analyzing the madness, let alone the sickening propaganda, in any detail. What is the benefit in reading the rantings of crazy people, even it they quote the Koran correctly? I am reminded of a story the late film critic Roger Ebert told about his days as a cub reporter, when he interviewed a carnival barker. 'His star was a geek, who bit off the heads of live chickens and drank their blood. "He's the best geek in the business," this man assured me. "What is the difference between a good geek and a bad geek?" I asked. "You wanna examine the chickens?"' "Much of this book consists of examine the chickens. It is not pretty, but it is more rewarding than the Islamic State's detractors might think. For years now, the Islamic State and its supporters have been producing essays, fatwas (religious rulings), films, and tweets at an industrial pace. In studying them we see a coherent view of the world rooted in a minority interpretation of Islamic scripture that has existed, in various forms, for almost as long as the religion itself. This version of Islam bears only passing resemblance to the Islam practiced or espoused by most Muslims. Mainstream Muslims resent that the Islamic State claims exclusive access to the truth about their religion, and in solidarity with their revulsion, many non-Muslims have averted their eyes and willfully ignored the particulars of the Islamic State's religious claims. This studied ignorance has been a costly mistake. Our enemy has invited us to know more about it, and we have been so repulsed that we have declined the offer." Id at xvii-xviii. Food for thought: Our ignorance is not serving us well. We having forgotten the simply, but core, admonishment: 'Know thy enemy.' The following lines tickles this reader's heart to the core: "A volley of inbound mortars could last seconds or an hour, and I sometimes heard helicopters buzzing off toward the authors of the attack and, with a rip of machine-gun fire, killing them. By the third attack, I had begun prepping the bunker with a book and a flashlight, so I'd never get caught dead or alive without reading material." Id. at xviii.).
