Overview

A former Islamic State hostage and veteran Middle East journalist explores misperceptions of Islamic State and their consequences.For more than a decade, French journalist Nicolas Henin has reported from the front lines of conflict in the Middle East, much of his time spent in Iraq and Syria. He witnessed the events leading to the rise of Islamic State, and in June 2013, he was himself captured by IS and spent ten months in captivity with James Foley and others who were beheaded soon after Henin was released. Those barbarities and the first strikes against Islamic State prompted Henin to present in Jihad Academy what he knows IS to be, in contrast to the misperceptions he sees perpetuated on an ongoing basis.Henin sees Islamic State as a political entity, having arisen out of a sense of injustice and lack of hope and as the natural result of the Western inability to support Syrian democracy activists. The West, however, sees IS only as a terrorist organization, ignoring its political message and goals; by doing so, we act as a recruitment agent for Islamic State and largely overlook the greatest victims of IS violence: civilians on the ground. IS will only be ultimately defeated, he argues, by the people of the region, just as others have overthrown groups that practiced political violence on their people.Jihad Academy is a fresh and powerful assessment by a writer with the perspective of a historian, the passion of a journalist long committed to the region, and the credibility of someone who has witnessed terrorism firsthand. Henin's is an important new voice in the ongoing debate about our role in the Middle East.

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9781504723572

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Nicolas Henin, a freelance journalist reporting for the news magazine Le Point, Arte television, and Radio France, has spent more than a decade reporting from the Middle East. From the fall of Baghdad to the capture of Raqqa, he has witnessed--often at close quarters with the jihadists--the events that led to the emergence of Islamic State. His book Jihad Academy won the Prix du Livre Geopolitique in 2015, and before that he was awarded the May Chidiac Prize for courage in journalism. Before becoming a journalist, he completed a masters degree in the history of international relations. He lives in France. Martin Makinson is a French-Australian national who has lived and worked all over the Middle East as an archaeologist and teacher. He currently divides his time between France and the Middle East. Malcolm Hillgartner is an actor, author, playwright, and professional narrator. Under the name Jahnna N. Malcolm, he and his wife, Jahnna Beecham, have written over one hundred books for young readers; their musicals have played in theaters across America. His audiobook credits include works by Dean Koontz, Nelson Algren, and William F. Buckley Jr.

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