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tittypete's review against another edition
5.0
Remember when the USA wisely took out the regime of Saddam Hussain in Iraq because he was building weapons of mass destruction? Well, through no fault of our own, the door was left open for a bunch of super level-headed Islam-enthusiasts so come in and start murdering everybody. They were headed by a charismatic boy rapist and decapitator name Al-Zarqawi and boy did he get his people riled up. They cut heads off Americans, set fire to Jordanians and in general set the outward look, tone and feel for “the world’s fastest-growing religion” since any other vibe for Islam is essentially silent and unseen except for the few yuckmouthed beardos that ‘claim’ this kind of stuff isn’t what the religion stands for. The hitch is, the pious ass-raper guy has his own yuckmouth beardos who say otherwise. All I know is whenever you hear someone yell in Arabic that “God is Great,” you’re probably fucked and going to die.
Anyway, Zarqawi forms a team and does a bunch of vile stuff. Eventually he’s even so vile that some of the Islams are pissed off and the good ol’ USA sends a bomb up his ass. But his fellow sodomites are still stoked on his message of cruelty and bloodlust and it just so happens that the Arab spring hits Syria and that USA this time just sort of waffles about what side they’re on so there’s a power vacuum and the pederast’s followers start their own country with their own yuckmouth fat virgin beardo in charge and basically everyone hates them except for rich assholes that give them money because they themselves are secret Islamo-pederasts.
This book is another bummer. Once again, my reaction is a firm: “fuck that part of the world and everyone in it.” Also Fuck the Bush administration for wiping its ass with our country’s reputation. Read this made me want to go full Pat Tillman.
Anyway, Zarqawi forms a team and does a bunch of vile stuff. Eventually he’s even so vile that some of the Islams are pissed off and the good ol’ USA sends a bomb up his ass. But his fellow sodomites are still stoked on his message of cruelty and bloodlust and it just so happens that the Arab spring hits Syria and that USA this time just sort of waffles about what side they’re on so there’s a power vacuum and the pederast’s followers start their own country with their own yuckmouth fat virgin beardo in charge and basically everyone hates them except for rich assholes that give them money because they themselves are secret Islamo-pederasts.
This book is another bummer. Once again, my reaction is a firm: “fuck that part of the world and everyone in it.” Also Fuck the Bush administration for wiping its ass with our country’s reputation. Read this made me want to go full Pat Tillman.
lorenipsum's review against another edition
5.0
So, I was very stupid and, despite the title of the book, expected there to be more about the actual "reign" of ISIS in the Middle East. No, this book truly is almost exclusively about the rise of al-Zarqawi, al-Baghdadi, and how ISIS came into existence. That isn't a demerit on the book, since I should have expected that from a book called "The Rise of ISIS".
This book exists at that elusive intersection of informative and engaging. The writing style made me feel like I was reading a spy novel or political thriller more often than not. It is incredibly thorough in its coverage of the topic, and it easily juggles dozens of actors and "subplots" taking place over decades. It is also, in my opinion, appropriately critical of both the Bush and Obama administrations for their role in allowing ISIS to develop in the first place. It is not, however, anti-American; the author gives credit to the brave and hardworking US intelligence officers whose reports on the growing threat in Iraq and then Syria were either ignored for political purposes or disregarded in attempt to keep the US out of another conflict.
If you are at all interested in this topic (and let's be honest, who isn't at least a little interested?) this book is a fantastic introduction.
This book exists at that elusive intersection of informative and engaging. The writing style made me feel like I was reading a spy novel or political thriller more often than not. It is incredibly thorough in its coverage of the topic, and it easily juggles dozens of actors and "subplots" taking place over decades. It is also, in my opinion, appropriately critical of both the Bush and Obama administrations for their role in allowing ISIS to develop in the first place. It is not, however, anti-American; the author gives credit to the brave and hardworking US intelligence officers whose reports on the growing threat in Iraq and then Syria were either ignored for political purposes or disregarded in attempt to keep the US out of another conflict.
If you are at all interested in this topic (and let's be honest, who isn't at least a little interested?) this book is a fantastic introduction.
zarco_j's review against another edition
4.0
Written by the Pulitzer Prize winning reporter for the Washington Post, Black Flags:The Rise of ISIS is a well written examination of the origins of ISIS.
Despite the subject matter, the book was engaging, interesting, and highly informative. The complex politics of the Middle-East was easily understood and written so that the layman can understand.
Despite the subject matter, the book was engaging, interesting, and highly informative. The complex politics of the Middle-East was easily understood and written so that the layman can understand.
kmdomboski's review against another edition
3.0
It was good and very interesting, just very long for an audio book!
aorth's review against another edition
4.0
Read this if you want a brief chronological account of how Iraq and Syria ended up being swallowed up in violent conflict for the first decade and a half of the 21st century (so far). Major villains appearing are Saudi Arabia's Osama bin Laden, Jordan's Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and Iraq's Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. By the end of this book you'll understand the link between all these men and the organizations they helped create.
I appreciated that, in the end, despite the apocalyptic title and cover imagery, Joby essentially attributes the recent rise of militant extremist Islam to a poor transition policy in the period after the US invasion of Iraq. Oh, and corruption. What's happening today in Iraq and Syria actually has very little to do with Islam. Other than a few hundred angry men with beards, there are definitely not large swathes of people who want to set up a seventh century theocracy spanning the globe.
Surely endless meddling and arbitrary line drawing by foreign powers in the century since the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century doesn't help either. That's not covered here though! Perhaps start with [b:The Silk Roads: A New History of the World|25812847|The Silk Roads A New History of the World|Peter Frankopan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1472636067s/25812847.jpg|45425898] if you have time and want to get lots of details, as well as tons of references.
I appreciated that, in the end, despite the apocalyptic title and cover imagery, Joby essentially attributes the recent rise of militant extremist Islam to a poor transition policy in the period after the US invasion of Iraq. Oh, and corruption. What's happening today in Iraq and Syria actually has very little to do with Islam. Other than a few hundred angry men with beards, there are definitely not large swathes of people who want to set up a seventh century theocracy spanning the globe.
Surely endless meddling and arbitrary line drawing by foreign powers in the century since the fall of the Ottoman Empire in the early 20th century doesn't help either. That's not covered here though! Perhaps start with [b:The Silk Roads: A New History of the World|25812847|The Silk Roads A New History of the World|Peter Frankopan|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1472636067s/25812847.jpg|45425898] if you have time and want to get lots of details, as well as tons of references.
abhi_reads's review against another edition
5.0
I have always been fascinated by the history of Middle East. I have always found that history had not been very just with Middle East. Middle east has occupied one of the most important positions on the map of the world. A gateway between Europe and Asia (or may be Africa too). It has been destroyed and rebuilt by Greeks, Persians, Rome, Arabs, Byzantines, Ottomans and then British and French.
Despite being a center for power struggle throughout the history, Middle East has bloomed culturally, economically, technologically for most of the part of the history. It has been a central hub for trade and cultural exchange.
I recently read Arabian Nights, and of course this was a fiction where the cities like Damascus, Baghdad, Mosul has been described as a paradise in desert. How people were so welcoming and warm to Europeans, Indians, Chinese merchants and traveler. Which I felt might be glorified but most probably a close description of middle east of that time.
So, how does a once growing and blooming part of the world has fallen under such disarray? What are the events that caused the rise of the world's most barbaric extremist group, whose brutality has exceeded the most infamous and their parent al-Qaeda?
So after a lot of research I picked this book to just have a glance over the history of ISIS. And now here is the review of [a:Joby Warrick|4518441|Joby Warrick|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1463405615p2/4518441.jpg]'s book [b:Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS|25241317|Black Flags The Rise of ISIS|Joby Warrick|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1430514347s/25241317.jpg|44960936].
The first thing I want to talk about is the narration. Joby's narration has made the experience of reading his book like reading or watching a thriller may be like Body of Lies or American Sniper. It's fast paced, engrossing, riveting and is like an edge-of-the-seat drama. Sometimes the non-linear narration adds to the excitement. His introduction of the Godfather of ISIS Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or other characters like Robert Ford or Baghdadi is as dramatic as it can get in a book. He has brilliantly retold some of the events that occurred in Iraq, Jordan and Syria. Some of the beheading and killings by ISIS is just bone-chilling and scary. I want to give full points to Joby for his writing style. It is never boring and made me discuss these events with my friends after I read them.
So one thing that will always be a subject of debate is, is this book biased? Or how true is it? What I felt, Joby was quite critical of the way Bush administration and CIA handled the situation in Iraq. Time and again he pointed several strategical mistakes made by the white house, be it wrongfully associating Saddam's government with terrorists to have an excuse to attack on Iraq, making Zarqawi an overnight star, that he wasn't, neglecting Jordan's king's advice or the way US military treated Iraqi prisoners and local people. He has tried to put forward a lot of perspective during the conflicts, be it Iran's involvement, or how local Sunni tribes reacted to the rise of Sunni extremist, involvement of other Arab countries. I am no expert on Iraq-Iran conflict or Iraq-US conflict or Afghanistan-Russia-USA-Pakistan conflict, but a couple of things I wanted to read more about was how the Iraq-US conflict started, was the Oil trade the reason of the tension between two countries., how countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan involved in the proxy war in Afghanistan and Iraq? I would have felt more satisfied if I had gotten the answer to these questions. Though he has wonderfully explained how the extremists has used Islam and Quran as a tool to justify their heinous acts.
One last thing I want to talk about is the takeaways. Again reading this book has not made me any expert on this matter. But now I have some information to think about and to discuss. Now I am no longer ignorant about a part of the world which has been there since beginning of human civilization. I have found a new respect for King Abdullah-II of Jordan and their secret intelligence agency Mukhbarabat. Jordan is caught up in the uprising of this tyranny because of it's progressive and western outlook and their foreign policy specially with Israel and their position on the map. But the way so far the authority has been strongly against any kind of terrorism and radical Islamist is quite appreciable. The conflict in Syria and Iraq doesn't seem to be getting resolved any time soon. And how the few radicals and extremists have tainted the whole community is really shameful.
I know the most of the Muslims don't agree with what has happened in Iraq and Syria and rest of the Middle East. And they want stability and peace in their region as much as anyone else. But they need to understand no religion is perfect. It might be relevant when it was founded but it needs to evolve with time. This applies to all the religions not just Islam.
And these radical groups do not represent Islam, this we all need to understand.
Despite being a center for power struggle throughout the history, Middle East has bloomed culturally, economically, technologically for most of the part of the history. It has been a central hub for trade and cultural exchange.
I recently read Arabian Nights, and of course this was a fiction where the cities like Damascus, Baghdad, Mosul has been described as a paradise in desert. How people were so welcoming and warm to Europeans, Indians, Chinese merchants and traveler. Which I felt might be glorified but most probably a close description of middle east of that time.
So, how does a once growing and blooming part of the world has fallen under such disarray? What are the events that caused the rise of the world's most barbaric extremist group, whose brutality has exceeded the most infamous and their parent al-Qaeda?
So after a lot of research I picked this book to just have a glance over the history of ISIS. And now here is the review of [a:Joby Warrick|4518441|Joby Warrick|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1463405615p2/4518441.jpg]'s book [b:Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS|25241317|Black Flags The Rise of ISIS|Joby Warrick|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1430514347s/25241317.jpg|44960936].
The first thing I want to talk about is the narration. Joby's narration has made the experience of reading his book like reading or watching a thriller may be like Body of Lies or American Sniper. It's fast paced, engrossing, riveting and is like an edge-of-the-seat drama. Sometimes the non-linear narration adds to the excitement. His introduction of the Godfather of ISIS Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or other characters like Robert Ford or Baghdadi is as dramatic as it can get in a book. He has brilliantly retold some of the events that occurred in Iraq, Jordan and Syria. Some of the beheading and killings by ISIS is just bone-chilling and scary. I want to give full points to Joby for his writing style. It is never boring and made me discuss these events with my friends after I read them.
So one thing that will always be a subject of debate is, is this book biased? Or how true is it? What I felt, Joby was quite critical of the way Bush administration and CIA handled the situation in Iraq. Time and again he pointed several strategical mistakes made by the white house, be it wrongfully associating Saddam's government with terrorists to have an excuse to attack on Iraq, making Zarqawi an overnight star, that he wasn't, neglecting Jordan's king's advice or the way US military treated Iraqi prisoners and local people. He has tried to put forward a lot of perspective during the conflicts, be it Iran's involvement, or how local Sunni tribes reacted to the rise of Sunni extremist, involvement of other Arab countries. I am no expert on Iraq-Iran conflict or Iraq-US conflict or Afghanistan-Russia-USA-Pakistan conflict, but a couple of things I wanted to read more about was how the Iraq-US conflict started, was the Oil trade the reason of the tension between two countries., how countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Pakistan involved in the proxy war in Afghanistan and Iraq? I would have felt more satisfied if I had gotten the answer to these questions. Though he has wonderfully explained how the extremists has used Islam and Quran as a tool to justify their heinous acts.
One last thing I want to talk about is the takeaways. Again reading this book has not made me any expert on this matter. But now I have some information to think about and to discuss. Now I am no longer ignorant about a part of the world which has been there since beginning of human civilization. I have found a new respect for King Abdullah-II of Jordan and their secret intelligence agency Mukhbarabat. Jordan is caught up in the uprising of this tyranny because of it's progressive and western outlook and their foreign policy specially with Israel and their position on the map. But the way so far the authority has been strongly against any kind of terrorism and radical Islamist is quite appreciable. The conflict in Syria and Iraq doesn't seem to be getting resolved any time soon. And how the few radicals and extremists have tainted the whole community is really shameful.
I know the most of the Muslims don't agree with what has happened in Iraq and Syria and rest of the Middle East. And they want stability and peace in their region as much as anyone else. But they need to understand no religion is perfect. It might be relevant when it was founded but it needs to evolve with time. This applies to all the religions not just Islam.
And these radical groups do not represent Islam, this we all need to understand.
mubeenirfan's review against another edition
5.0
Brilliant, detailed readable account of how ISIS came to be. Worthy of the pulitzer it has won.