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(Read and "reviewed" in May 2015) Although I was familiar with Islamism/Islamic extremism I did not know of "ISIS" before summer 2013 and Obama's announcement of this name and of this group's expansion. And since then I haven't come close to keeping up with the long, analytical articles about the movement. But their spreading terrorism and the recent news of their capture of Palmyra forced my hand to learn more. I chose this book rather than the Michael Weiss book (published at the same time) because I trust Jessica Stern (Terror in the Mind of God and her haunting memoir, Denial). Turns out that this book was exactly what I was looking for: This was like a Cliffs Notes overview of the organization, touching on their origins and emergence, how they differ from al Qaeda, their various names (IS, ISIS, ISIL, DAESH, etc.), the announcement of the caliphate, their interpretation of jihad and Safaist Islam, their hierarchical structure and leaders, their use of social media (esp. Twitter), and unforgettably, their barbarism (child soldiers, rapes, torture, and the thousands of beheadings). The book is repetitive, each chapter could almost stand alone, but the repeated names and their significance (Zarqawi, Zawahiri, Abu Bakr al-Bagdadi) reinforced my recall.

In a status update while reading I mentioned that the book/the subject is horrifying (i.e., terrifying), but Stern and Berger would urge me not to dwell on that. They take a sort of "if you live in fear then the terrorists win" approach, and instead they offer expert suggestions in how to handle (not necessarily to fight) ISIS, what we may expect in the future (or as the book went to press), and that "whacking the mole" on social media isn't going to kill the movement but it does make it more difficult for them to reach their followers.

(Aside: If and when I need to index a scholarly book about the Islamic State and I see the words "whack-a-mole" I will now recognize that this is an indexable term used by terrorism experts.)