ISIS

Inside the Army of Terror

By: Michael Weiss, Hassan Hassan

Narrated by: Qarie Marshall

Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

Initially dismissed by US President Barack Obama, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has shocked the world by conquering massive territories in both countries and promising to create a vast new Muslim caliphate that observes the strict dictates of Sharia law. In ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, American journalist Michael Weiss and Syrian analyst Hassan Hassan explain how these violent extremists evolved from a nearly defeated Iraqi insurgent group into a jihadi army of international volunteers who have conquered territory equal to the size of Great Britain. Drawing on original interviews with former US military officials and current ISIS fighters, the authors also reveal the internecine struggles within the movement itself as well as ISIS' bloody hatred of Shiite Muslims, which is generating another sectarian war in the region. Past is prologue, and America's legacy in the Middle East is sowing a new generation of terror.

©2015 Michael Weiss & Hassan Hassan (P)2015 Dreamscape Media, LLC

A thurough look at the history and rise of ISIS

Very good. The names are a little difficult to fallow at first but once you start understanding the networks and actors it comes together. The chapter on the tribes lost me a bit because they introduce some new people but over all it was very informative.

Eye opening

This is a hot topic that has been poorly conveyed or understood in main stream American news. This is a far more nuanced problem then many know.

Fascinating and informative with a ton of detail

Weiss and Hassan provide a ton of fascinating detail into the origins of ISIS. This book seems to be very thorough and thoughtful. Because it was so detailed, I likely will end up reading it on paper as well. But I still picked up a lot of detail just by listening to the audiobook.

enlightening

this was an insightfull book describing the birth of an evil movment and culter of fear. wheather they are fighting for religion of culter the rest of the world only sees evil and violence. this is the story of the players and events that brought it into being.

Best book written on ISIS that I have read

Any additional comments?

Michael Weiss does an excellent job laying out the case against Assad, explaining the larger picture which encompasses much more than just ISIS. I have read several books on ISIS and this is by far the most substantive I have read. You might have to listen to it twice, there's a lot of substance. Excellent narration, too!

consise and readable

Weiss and Hassan have produced a detailed and highly readable book on the history of ISIS. They have done extensive research on the subject not only delving into the archives but conducting lots of interviews with a variety of people such as NATO and regional military officials, intelligence operatives and diplomats. They also state they interviewed defecting Syrian spies and officials and well as Syrians who work for ISIS. Hassan is an expert on tribal and jihadist dynamics and is a researcher at the Delma Institute in Abu Dhabi. Weiss is a journalist who was stationed in Iraq.

According to the authors Aba Baker al-Baghdadi created his monotheism and Holy War movement based on his own radical jihadist ideas. The authors report that he had created the basics of his ideology from Saudi Arabia’s Wahabi ideology and its Sharia law. The authors show how ISIS feeds on state dysfunction and Sunni outrage to feed his organization. I wished the authors had provided more in-depth information as to the basic structure and organization chart of ISIS. The authors outline the serious danger ISIS poses to Western civilization and for the average Muslim and other religions of the world in this war of ideology. This is the first time I had listen to Qarie Marshall narrate and he did a good job.

Well researched, and distrubing

Words fail to describe the horror you feel when you slowly understand the nature of this monster and how they lure young, innocent, impressionable young Muslims to die for their cause. But it is a knowledge everybody should have in order to put an end to the menace.

Excellent but complicated

This was an excellent book but better to read than listen to. The situation is complicated, the names sound similar and there are many factions that become confusing. It would be an excellent read because you could go back and check who is who and what is what. Listening in the car while commuting to work was not the best circumstance to understand this book in totality. That being said I do believe I got the gist of what is happening with ISIS. It was a well written and thorough book.

Required reading in order to understand Syria

Comprehensive, well-researched, and well-written. Everything the media fails to tell us about the ISIS/al Qaeda/Syria/Iran/Iraq picture. A great book.

insightful and well written

the insight into the situation on the ground, the competing interests and US Policy missteps is something that needs to be highlighted and understood by more US citizens. we are impacting our future and our leadership's judgement needs to be challenged or better understood. we will all be living with the fallout for decades to come.