Black Flags Audiobook By Joby Warrick cover art

Black Flags

The Rise of ISIS

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Black Flags

By: Joby Warrick
Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra
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WINNER OF THE 2016 PULITZER PRIZE FOR GENERAL NONFICTION

“A Best Book of 2015”—The New York Times, The Washington Post, People Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Kansas City Star, and Kirkus Reviews

In a thrilling dramatic narrative, awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, 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 bent on dominating the Middle East. In Black Flags, an unprecedented character-driven account of the rise of ISIS, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Joby Warrick shows how the zeal of this one man and the strategic mistakes of Presidents Bush and Obama led to the banner of ISIS being raised over huge swaths of Syria and Iraq.
Zarqawi began by directing terror attacks from a base in northern Iraq, but it was the American invasion in 2003 that catapulted him to the head of a vast insurgency. By falsely identifying him as the link between Saddam and bin Laden, U.S. officials inadvertently spurred like-minded radicals to rally to his cause. Their wave of brutal beheadings and suicide bombings persisted until American and Jordanian intelligence discovered clues that led to a lethal airstrike on Zarqawi’s hideout in 2006.
His movement, however, endured. First calling themselves al-Qaeda in Iraq, then Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, his followers sought refuge in unstable, ungoverned pockets on the Iraq-Syria border. When the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, and as the U.S. largely stood by, ISIS seized its chance to pursue Zarqawi’s dream of an ultra-conservative Islamic caliphate.
Drawing on unique high-level access to CIA and Jordanian sources, Warrick weaves gripping, moment-by-moment operational details with the perspectives of diplomats and spies, generals and heads of state, many of whom foresaw a menace worse than al Qaeda and tried desperately to stop it. Black Flags is a brilliant and definitive history that reveals the long arc of today’s most dangerous extremist threat.

Accolades & Awards

Pulitzer Prize
2016
Freedom & Security Intelligence & Espionage Middle East Politics & Government Pulitzer Prize Terrorism War & Crisis World Espionage Royalty Iran Africa Thought-Provoking
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Comprehensive History • Educational Insights • Authentic Pronunciation • Compelling Narrative • Detailed Research

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Before listening to this book I knew very little about Isis or the situations it spawned from. I was nervous before starting the book that I would have issues with characters names and remembering who was who in the same way I struggled remembering who was who in the Russian classics like war and peace and crime and punishment. However the author did a good job reminding the reader who was who and at the same time didn't do it so much that someone who wouldn't have that problem wouldn't be annoyed by it. I learned so much about the situations that Isis evolved from and what countries in the area the key players came from. Although the book covers a large period of time and doesn't do it in a linear manor the history is digestible and the nonlinear nature of the book is setup in a way that keeps things interesting but not confusing. My only complaint about this book is how the reader over emphases words or phrases. At times it felt melodramatic to me. At the same time I understand that he didn't want to sound boring or dry and it's possible it's just me being weird and nothing to do with how the book was read. Overall I strongly recommend this book for anyone that wants to start to learn about Isis on a richer way.

So much learned

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Great & informative, would recommend to anyone wanting to learn about what's going on over there!

very good read

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This book was very informative and easy to follow. It provides an interesting outlook of the situation facing the region today.

Enjoyed

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I finished this with a greater understanding of the origins of ISIS and the history of the Middle Eastern countries and their culture and traditions.

It was great to hear at the ending many of the leaders in the Muslim countries and religion denounce ISIS and their actions.

Informative and Interesting

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I lived and fought in this mess. It was an excellent depiction of what really happened.

lived in

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