"In a thrilling dramatic narrative, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Joby Warrick traces how the strain of militant Islam behind ISIS first arose in a remote Jordanian prison and spread with the unwitting aid of two American presidents. When the government of Jordan granted amnesty to a group of political prisoners in 1999, it little realized that among them was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a terrorist mastermind and soon the architect of an Islamist movement...

The world's wealthiest and most powerful jihadists, ISIS originated within Al Qaeda with the goal of creating an Islamic state across Iraq and Syria and unrelenting jihad on Christians. This book gives a better understanding of the modern face of terror, and provides an overview of the laws of war and war crimes. These laws differentiate between the guilty and innocent, and explain why the US military and the Israeli Defense Forces are often limited...

"Leap of Faith is the first comprehensive and objective history of the decision to invade Iraq. Mike Mazarr shows how the most impressive and experienced foreign policy team made the greatest strategic folly of the century"--

Keen to learn but short on time? Get to grips with the history of the Islamic State in next to no time with this concise guide. 50Minutes.com provides a clear and engaging analysis of the history of the Islamic State. The brutal terror attacks in Paris in 2015 sent shockwaves across Europe. The group which claimed responsibility for them, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, has been active since 2006 and seeks to impose its radical and distorted...

In May 2005, Lieutenant Colonel Bill Russell Edmonds of the U.S. Army Special Forces, a decorated counter-terrorism expert, was deployed to the Iraqi city of Mosul, which was boiling over. His job was to advise an Iraqi Intelligence Officer on the art of interrogations, collect intelligence, and monitor the capture and interrogation of insurgents, while applying the brakes on more extreme tactics and torture. From a makeshift basement prison, he would...

The must-read summary of Richard N. Haass's book: "War of Necessity, War of Choice: A Memoir of Two Iraq Wars". This complete summary of "War of Necessity, War of Choice" by Richard N. Haass, a prominent American diplomat, outlines his analysis of how the United States can apply the lessons learned from the two Iraq wars so that it is better positioned to put into practice what worked and to avoid repeating what so clearly did not. He also argues...

This complete summary of "On the Hunt" by Colonel David Hunt, a retired army colonel and military analyst, outlines his argument that America's leaders have wrongly approached terrorism-related issues following 9/11 with half-measures and timidity. He asserts that political leaders nowadays are more concerned with their reputation and their political careers than with solving terrorist threats of the US, and suggests various ways of changing this...

The must-read summary of Seymour M. Hersh's book: "Chain of Command: The Road form 9/11 to Abu Ghraib". This complete summary of "Chain of Command" by Seymour M. Hersh, a renowned American investigative journalist, gives an overview of his report on the Abu Ghraib prison scandal and his examination of the reasons the Bush administration led the nation into a war on terror. Hersh uncovers the lies and obsessions of an administration blinded by ideology. Added-value...

The search for a friend's killer is a riveting lesson in the way war has changed. The EOD-explosive ordnance disposal-community is tight-knit, and when one of their own is hurt, an alarm goes out. When Brian Castner, an Iraq War vet, learns that his friend and EOD brother Matt has been killed by an IED in Afghanistan, he goes to console Matt's widow, but he also begins a personal investigation. Is the bomb maker who killed Matt the same man American...