ISIS: A History

by Fawaz A. Gerges

Overview

An authoritative introduction to ISIS, from a leading authority on jihadism

The Islamic State has stunned the world with its savagery, destructiveness, and military and recruiting successes. What explains the rise of ISIS, and what does it portend for the future of the Middle East? In this book, one of the world's leading authorities on political Islam and jihadism sheds new light on these questions. Moving beyond journalistic accounts, Fawaz Gerges provides a clear and compelling explanation of the deeper conditions that fuel ISIS. This unique history shows how decades of dictatorship, poverty, and rising sectarianism in the Middle East, exacerbated by foreign intervention, led to the rise and growth of ISIS—and why addressing those problems is the only way to ensure its end. An authoritative introduction to arguably the most important conflict in the world today, this is an essential book for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the social turmoil and political violence ravaging the Arab-Islamic world.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691170008
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	04/19/2016
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	5.80(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.40(d)

About the Author

Fawaz A. Gerges is professor of international relations and Emirates Professor in Contemporary Middle East Studies at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His many books include The New Middle East, Obama and the Middle East, and The Far Enemy. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Guardian, Foreign Affairs, and other publications.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Introduction: Down the Rabbit Hole and into the History of ISIS 1

1 The World According to ISIS 23

2 Where ISIS Came From: Zarqawi to Baghdadi 50

3 How Broken Iraqi Politics Fueled the Revival of ISIS 98

4 Baghdadi’s Evolution: From Invisible to Infamous 129

5 Baathists and ISIS Jihadists: Who Converted Whom? 144

6 How the Syrian War Empowered ISIS 170

7 Misappropriating the Arab Spring Uprisings 202

8 ISIS versus Al Qaeda: Redefi ning Jihad and the Transition from the Global to the Local 222

Conclusion: The Future of ISIS 260

Notes 295

Index 353

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"Not just timely but unlikely ever to be bettered, this is an indispensable guide to the evolution of the Arab world's leading terrorist organization by a global expert. Fawaz Gerges's book is judicious, well argued, and based on a close personal acquaintance with conditions in Iraq and Syria. It is unrivaled in its ability to unravel the ideological and political power struggles among ISIS leaders. And it is an often shocking indictment of Western missteps in dealing with the organization's growing capacity to harm foreign interests."—Roger Owen, Harvard University and author of The Rise and Fall of Arab Presidents for Life

"Fawaz Gerges, long one of the most perceptive writers about the Middle East, has written a lucid and erudite account of the rise of ISIS that will be read with great profit by both specialists and the general public."—Peter Bergen, author of United States of Jihad, Manhunt, and The Longest War

"In the flood of recent publications about ISIS, Gerges provides a welcome island of thoroughly researched analysis by a major authority on extremist Muslim movements. Both general readers and specialists will benefit from Gerges's balanced and well-informed understanding of this important and dangerous movement."—John Voll, professor emeritus, Georgetown University

"In this original and empirically rich study, Fawaz Gerges persuasively analyzes the rise and power of ISIS. Building on his profound knowledge of salafi and jihadi movements, he locates ISIS squarely in its context, dissecting the ideas and political factors that have made it so surprisingly formidable in Iraq and Syria, as well as disturbingly influential elsewhere."—Charles Tripp, SOAS, University of London

"Fawaz Gerges is the right scholar to bring the history of ISIS past its journalistic first draft. This should be a valuable source for policymakers, specialists, and the public alike."—Noah Feldman, Harvard Law School

"Fawaz Gerges is a first-class expert on contemporary Jihadist movements. This book should have a wide readership."—Ian Lustick, University of Pennsylvania

Editorial Reviews

"This is a comprehensive account of how ISIS emerged in the Middle East, triggered by the US invasion of Iraq, Syria's civil war, the collapse of the Arab Spring, and sectarian Sunni-Shi'a struggles. Gerges systematically details the complex social and political dynamics leading to ISIS's prominence among the Salafi-jihadist family of rivals. . . . This authoritative, empirically rich study based on primary Arabic sources should be must reading for policy makers, strategists, scholars, journalists, students, and anyone seriously concerned about the human condition."

Choice

★ 2016-03-08
A thorough survey of the genesis of the Islamic State, from al-Qaida wannabe to lethal caliphate. The Islamic State emerged strong from the shattered democratic ideals of the Arab Spring and, before that, the devastating sectarian violence that resulted from the American invasion of Iraq. In this rigorous synthesis of what is actually known about the jihadi terror group, Middle East scholar Gerges (International Relations/London School of Economics and Political Science; Obama and the Middle East: The End of America's Moment?, 2012, etc.) looks at its power center and leaders and the troubling incursions by the group into Iraq, Syria, and Kurdish territories since the summer of 2014. He also examines its enormous wealth from oil and the black market and recruiting attraction for young, disaffected rural, religious men. In contrast to al-Qaida, which was nearly destroyed by the death of Osama bin Laden and swore vengeance on the "far enemy" (the U.S., Israel, and the Western powers), the Islamic State has focused its fury on the "near enemy," the apostate Shias. Gerges sees this as an ongoing genocide in contrast to the relatively few deaths of Western journalists and others. The group's leadership, especially Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, has thus co-opted the global jihadi movement, moving into the chaotic vacuum left by the American invasion of Iraq, appropriating the Baathist tools of repression, and offering "aggrieved Sunnis a potent pan-Sunni (Islamist) identity." Though the Islamic State perversely took credit for the unleashing of popular discontent during the Arab Spring, Gerges points to the power grab resulting from the "grand collusion" between Arab autocrats and their patrons to maintain the status quo. The author looks carefully at the rise of leaders such as al-Baghdadi, but he concludes that the ideological-driven terror organization will eventually self-destruct because it cannot supply the civil state and institutions of freedom and social justice that the Arab people desperately want and need. A specific, timely, well-rendered exegesis of the unfolding global threat.

Kirkus Reviews

2017 Gold Medal Winner in Current Events (Political/Economic/Foreign Affairs), Independent Publisher Book Awards

A CNN Fareed Zakaria GPS Book of the Week, August 7, 2016

Honorable Mention for the 2017 PROSE Award in Government and Politics, Association of American Publishers

One of Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Books of 2016 in Current Affairs

One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2016

Shortlisted for the 2017 Arthur Ross Book Award, Council on Foreign Relations

From the Publisher