Only Cry for the Living

Memos from Inside the ISIS Battlefield

By: Hollie McKay

Narrated by: Hollie McKay

Only once in a lifetime does a war so brutal erupt. A war that becomes an official genocide, causes millions to run from their homes, compels the slaughtering of thousands in the most horrific of ways, and inspires terrorist attacks to transpire across the world.

That is the chilling legacy of the ISIS onslaught, and Only Cry for the Living takes a profoundly personal, unprecedented dive into one of the most brutal terrorist organizations in the world.

Journalist Hollie S. McKay offers a raw, on-the-ground journey chronicling the rise of ISIS in Iraq - exposing the group’s vast impact and how and why it sought to wage terror on civilians in a desperate attempt to create an antiquated “caliphate”.

©2020 Di Angelo Publications (P)2021 Di Angelo Publications

Incredible, moving & heavy

No other account of ISIS’s destruction, is better covered than here. A must read for all.

Heartbreaking and necessary

McKay reads her experience of ISIS as it happened in front of her. A transcendental piece of journalism, it is required reading for anyone wanting to understand the brutality of ISIS.

What is war?

Haunting. Chilling. A first-hand glimpse at the toll of what war, failed war, extremism, broken up families, and death have on the human psyche.

McKay asks a question which persists as the main theme of the book: What is war? And she does not impose her own options or answers, rather she sits with those who are in war, impacted by war, and grieve the loss that war robs from them. On both sides…on all sides.

McKay gets dirty so we can sit safely in our homes and cafes and read about the prices paid by countless others. While on the other side of the world people just like us, who didn’t ask for war, fear their homes and cafes may end up in rubble; that they may become “aliens in their own land.” Must read.

Definitely recommend

I was listening to Jocko’s podcast when I first heard of Hollie McKay. She spoke of her time in Afghanistan - people close to me were deployed there around the same time, so I was immediately interested. I like the people Jocko brings on, but I particularly liked McKay’s willingness to get into hard situations so that an accurate story can be told. Only Cry for the Living is by no means an easy read, but I am glad the story has been written. I want to think I could exhibit her bravery, I’m not sure that I could. So thank you, McKay, for taking me along.

She also does a great job with the performance of it. I’m training for a marathon right now, so I’m constantly looking for good books/podcasts to listen to. McKay is very easy to listen to!

Great work by Hollie McKay

Hollie McKay has written an insightful and gripping account of those persecuted by isis. Thank you.