The Rise of Islamic State

Patrick Cockburn

LeftWord, 192 pages, Rs. 250

ISIS and its allied jihadist groups are swiftly expanding; they now control an area stretching from the Sunni heartlands in the north and west of Iraq through a broad swathe of north-east Syria. In June 2014, the leader of ISIS, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was declared the head of a new caliphate that demands the allegiance of all Muslims. Drawing on his unrivalled experience as a reporter in the region, Cockburn analyses the unfolding of one of the West’s greatest foreign policy debacles, and the rise of the new jihadis.