This excellent account by a notable U.S. war correspondent tells the personal stories of several families and individual Iraqis caught up in surviving the post-US invasion period of sectarian violence in Iraq, followed by the rise of ISIS, and the war against them by Iraqis, Kurds and U.S. supporters.
At the center of the story is an Iraqi man who became brilliant at identifying ISIS terrorists and constructing maps of their social networks, with the help of his older brother, the disgraced “oldest son” of the family, who went underground for more than a year in the ISIS movement to gather critical information about the terrorists, their organization and their bombing campaigns.
Their paths are contrasted with a bright young woman from another family, who was driven by her rage toward the American invasion and its violent sectarian aftermath to become a leader in the ISIS movement, despite their appalling treatment of herself and other women.
This is a thrilling, disturbing and powerful account of how the Iraqi people and their society were impacted by the U.S. invasion and occupation, and some of the ways they chose to fight for their very different versions of a better world for their families and communities. Recommended.
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