ISIS

Two leading experts in terrorism provide "smart, granular analysis" of the group's brutally effective strategy, tactics, and ideology ( Washington Post). The Islamic State, known as ISIS, exploded into the public eye in 2014, capturing the imagination of the global jihadist movement and attracting recruits in unprecedented numbers. It also exhibited a level of sadistic violence and destruction that has alienated even the hardcore terrorists of its parent organization, al Qaeda. In ISIS: The State of Terror, Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger trace the ideological innovations that the group deploys to recruit unprecedented numbers of Westerners, the composition of its infamous snuff videos, and the technological tools it exploits on social media to broadcast its atrocities. They also examine ISIS's predatory abuse of women and children and its use of horror to manipulate world leaders—and its own adherents—as it builds its twisted society. The authors conclude with a much-needed perspective on how world leaders should respond to ISIS's insidious provocations.