The New Threat From Islamic Militancy
  • Published: 15 February 2016
  • ISBN: 9781784701475
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $27.99

The New Threat From Islamic Militancy

Formats & editions
EBook
27 Aug 2015
Paperback
15 Feb 2016
Buy from…
Amazon Booktopia Dymocks QBD Readings Find local retailers Find local retailers Abbeys Angus & Robertson Boomerang Collins Fishpond Gleebooks Harry Hartog Kinokuniya Robinsons The Nile Your Bookstore

The expert guide to Islamic militancy today from the bestselling author of Al-Qaeda

SHORTLISTED FOR THE ORWELL PRIZE 2016

In The New Threat renowned expert and prize-winning reporter Jason Burke provides the clearest and most comprehensive guide to Islamic militancy today.

From Syria to Somalia, from Libya to Indonesia, from Yemen to the capitals of Europe, Islamic militancy appears stronger, more widespread and more threatening than ever. ISIS and other groups, such as Boko Haram, together command significant military power, rule millions and control extensive territories. Elsewhere Al-Qaeda remains potent and is rapidly evolving. Factions and subsidiaries proliferate worldwide, and a new generation of Western Jihadists are emerging, joining conflicts abroad and attacking at home. Who are these groups and what do they actually want? What connects them and how do they differ? How are we to understand their tactics of online activism and grotesque violence?

Drawing on almost two decades of frontline reporting as well as a vast range of sources, from intelligence officials to the militants themselves, renowned expert Jason Burke cuts through the mass of opinion and misinformation to explain dispassionately and with total clarity the nature of the threat we now face. He shows that Islamic militancy has changed dramatically in recent years. Far from being a ‘medieval’ throwback, it is modern, dynamic and resilient. Despite everything, it is entirely comprehensible.

The New Threat is essential reading if we are to understand our fears rather than succumb to them, to act rationally and effectively, and to address successfully one of the most urgent problems of our time.
  • Published: 15 February 2016
  • ISBN: 9781784701475
  • Imprint: Vintage
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 320
  • RRP: $27.99
Categories:
Share…

About the author

Jason Burke

Jason Burke is a globally recognised expert on terrorism and radical Islam and has reported for two decades on these and related conflicts from the front-lines of South Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe for the Guardian. He is the best-selling, prize-winning author of four critically acclaimed books, including most recently The New Threat from Islamic Militancy (Bodley Head, 2015; shortlisted for the Orwell Prize; ‘A fine overview [from] one of the shrewdest observers of contemporary Muslim activism [which] draws together the strands of a highly complex reality to create a picture that is not just convincing but readable’ NYRB) and The 9/11 Wars (Allen Lane, 2011; ‘the best overview of the 9/11 decade in print’ Economist). His first book, Al-Qaeda: The True Story of Radical Islam, is credited with having changed the popular understanding of the nature of modern radical Islam. He has made numerous appearances on television and radio and contributes to periodicals such as Foreign Policy, Prospect and the New Statesman.

Also by Jason Burke

The 9/11 Wars
On the Road to Kandahar
See all

Praise for The New Threat From Islamic Militancy

Burke is a superb journalist

Daily Telegraph

A major authority on the politics and organisation of Islamic extremism

Irish Times

A masterful exploration ... an essential and often gripping read

Professor Theo Farrell, Head of the Department of War Studies, Kings College London

One of the best reporters and analysts writing in the West about militant Islam analyses all the big questions

Peter Bergen, author of Manhunt: the Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden from 9/11 to Abbottabad

An excellent account ... The idea of home-grown extremism is not new. But Burke argues - convincingly - that its nature has changed

Telegraph

This is the book for which anyone bewildered by nature of Islamic militancy, and longing for a primer, has been waiting … this is history written directly from the front line ... If it is journalists who write the first draft of history, then historians of the early 21st century will be lucky in having Jason Burke as a source

Tom Holland, Evening Standard

Riveting and readable

Daily Express

Comprehensive and authoritative

Independent

Scrupulously researched ... compellingly told ... His analysis has the weight of considerable on-the-ground experience, rather than the lofty theorising of an armchair academic ... unpicks lazy, commonly held opinion

Justin Marozzi, The National

How much ought the West to fear the self-styled "caliphate"? Perhaps not as greatly as politicians make out, according to Jason Burke … comprehensive

The Economist

Important and impressive ... the most accessible and up-to-date analysis of the development of Islamic militancy ... a clear and convincing account ... consistently fascinating

Guardian

Compelling and meticulously researched

Foreign Affairs

Fascinating

Independent on Sunday

To understand Islamic State, there can be few better books to read … a magisterial account of the fast-changing world of Islamist militancy … a remarkably clear roadmap for understanding the seemingly chaotic world of contemporary jihad … Burke’s clear-eyed analysis, based on remarkably wide-ranging research, should be mandatory reading for anyone seeking to understand the globalisation of jihad and to avoid repeating past mistakes

Literary Review

Tells us with clarity and insight who Islamic extremists are, why they kill and what they are likely to do going forward … For all the horror, reading Burke is relatively reassuring. He shows that this clash of civilizations, along with the jihadis-are-everywhere posture, is terribly misleading … Thankfully, we have Burke to explain what’s really going on … Burke’s book carefully spells out with courageous modesty who civilization’s enemies really are, and shows us that we need not embrace their fanaticism and their barbarity to defeat them. It is a lesson some of our would-be leaders need to learn

Newsweek

A fascinating reminder of how the entire Asian militant factions came about… Well written, extremely factual, historically interesting.

Reg Seward, Nudge