Age of Jihad: Islamic State and the Great War for the Middle East

New
Hardcover
2016
$21.70

The Age of Jihad charts the turmoil of today's Middle East and the devastating role the West has played in the region from 2001 to the present. Beginning with the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, Cockburn explores the vast geopolitical struggle that is the Sunni-Shia conflict, a clash that shapes the war on terror, western military interventions, the evolution of the insurgency, the civil wars in Yemen, Libya and Syria, the Arab Spring, the fall of regional dictators, and the rise of Islamic State. As Cockburn shows in arresting detail, Islamic State did not explode into existence in Syria in the wake of the Arab Spring, as conventional wisdom would have it. The organization gestated over several years in occupied Iraq, before growing to the point where it can threaten the stability of the whole region. Cockburn was the first Western journalist to warn of the dangers posed by Islamic State. His originality and breadth of vision make The Age of Jihad the most in-depth analysis of the regional crisis in the Middle East to date.

Synopsis

The Age of Jihad charts the turmoil of today's Middle East and the devastating role the West has played in the region from 2001 to the present. Beginning with the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, Cockburn explores the vast geopolitical struggle that is the Sunni-Shia conflict, a clash that shapes the war on terror, western military interventions, the evolution of the insurgency, the civil wars in Yemen, Libya and Syria, the Arab Spring, the fall of regional dictators, and the rise of Islamic State. As Cockburn shows in arresting detail, Islamic State did not explode into existence in Syria in the wake of the Arab Spring, as conventional wisdom would have it. The organization gestated over several years in occupied Iraq, before growing to the point where it can threaten the stability of the whole region. Cockburn was the first Western journalist to warn of the dangers posed by Islamic State. His originality and breadth of vision make The Age of Jihad the most in-depth analysis of the regional crisis in the Middle East to date.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 464
Publisher: Verso Books
Published: 11 Oct 2016
ISBN 10: 1784784494
ISBN 13: 9781784784492

Media Reviews

Quite simply, the best Western journalist at work in Iraq today. Seymour M Hersh Amid the many books published on the current conflicts reshaping the Middle East, few are as informative or perceptive. Observer (Praise for The Rise of Islamic State) Accessible ... Cockburn, an experienced Mideast journalist, offers revealing anecdotes on the decrepit state of the Iraqi Army and the sluggish and brutal military stalemate in Syria ... Cockburn describes a continuing tragedy in which hubris and optimism destroyed a seemingly promising revolution New York Times (Praise for The Rise of Islamic State) A compelling series of dispatches from a journalist who has learned the hard golden rule in Iraq: 'to forecast the worst possible outcome.' - Kirkuk Reviews It is a brilliant tour d'horizon of the new wars, a chronicle compiled from despatches, notes and diaries. No one could be better placed for this task and no one else could have produced such a lucid and comprehensive account. - Robert Fox, Evening Standard His reports coalesce here, giving life and shape to the forces of terror currently shaping the region and beyond. The book serves as a strong argument for sharpening the mind of each and every politician responsible for the continuing calamity - GQ Likely to be a reference for future scholars. Cockburn's dispatches make for a somber, vivid, and gripping work of eyewitness history. - Publishers Weekly A fine and courageous journalist, who has displayed a sustained commitment to laying bare the tribulations of the Middle East...This book confirms Cockburn's reputation as a reporter and analyst. - Max Hastings, Sunday Times This book is required reading for anyone who wants to try to understand the disaster. It should be compulsory reading for politicians, diplomats, defence chiefs and the academic think-tanks whose members make confident predictions, usually confounded by what follows. - Allan Massie, Scotsman A meticulous and blistering condemnation of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East - Macleans Cockburn wears his opinions on his sleeve-informed opinions, that project an aura of the New (now oldish) Left-so you can get an honest take on his perspective. That perspective can be dizzying, both panoptic and intimate. - Peter Lewis, San Francisco Chronicle

Author Bio

Patrick Cockburn is Middle East correspondent for the Independent and has worked previously for the Financial Times. Winner of the Foreign Affairs Journalist of the Year Award 2014.