The ISIS Apocalypse
The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State
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Narrated by:
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Stephen McLaughlin
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By:
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William McCants
About this listen
The Islamic State is one of the most lethal and successful jihadist groups in modern history, surpassing even al-Qaeda. Thousands of its followers have marched across Syria and Iraq, subjugating millions, enslaving women, beheading captives, and daring anyone to stop them. Thousands more have spread terror beyond the Middle East under the Islamic State's black flag. How did the Islamic State attract so many followers and conquer so much land? By being more ruthless, more apocalyptic, and more devoted to state building than its competitors.
The shrewd leaders of the Islamic State combined two of the most powerful yet contradictory ideas in Islam - the return of the Islamic Empire and the end of the world - into a mission and a message that shapes its strategy and inspires its army of zealous fighters. They have defied conventional thinking about how to wage wars and win recruits. Even if the Islamic State is defeated, jihadist terrorism will never be the same. Based almost entirely on primary sources in Arabic - including ancient religious texts and secret al-Qaeda and Islamic State letters that few have seen - William McCants' The ISIS Apocalypse explores how religious fervor, strategic calculation, and doomsday prophecy shaped the Islamic State's past and foreshadow its dark future.
©2015 William McCants (P)2015 Macmillan AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Drink every time he says “milieu”
- By Anonymous User on 12-31-21
By: Peter R. Neumann, and others
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From Muhammed to Burj Khalifa
- A Crash Course in 2,000 Years of Middle East History
- By: Michael Rank
- Narrated by: Kevin Pierce
- Length: 2 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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To untangle the modern Middle East conflict and the 2,000 years behind it, this book is divided into 25 concise chapters. Each one is devoted to a major theme in Middle East history, such as the beginning of Islam, the Crusades, Genghis Khan, and the beginning of Israel in 1948. They can be read in a few minutes, giving you a fast overview of the issues and help you to understand Middle East current events.
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Interesting, but of course it's quite brief
- By Philo on 07-26-13
By: Michael Rank
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The Mighty and the Almighty
- Reflections on America, God, and World Affairs
- By: Madeleine Albright
- Narrated by: Madeleine Albright
- Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Does America have a special mission, derived from God, to bring liberty and democracy to the world? How much influence does the Christian right have over U.S. foreign policy? And how should America deal with violent Islamist extremists? Madeleine Albright, the former Secretary of State and best-selling author of Madam Secretary, offers a thoughtful and often surprising look at the role of religion in shaping America's approach to the world.
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The point??
- By Thomas on 11-04-06
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Preachers of Hate
- Islam and the War on America
- By: Kenneth Timmerman
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 13 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
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Like no book before it, Preachers of Hate uncovers an ancient hatred that threatens the life and livelihood of every American. The "new" anti-Semitism targets not only Jews, but Americans specifically and the West in general. It targets our values, our lifestyle, and our freedoms. It is the single most important issue we face when trying to make sense of the Arab world.
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This is an EXCELLENT.... EYE OPENING read!
- By Jon on 11-23-03
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Israel
- A Concise History of a Nation Reborn
- By: Daniel Gordis
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 16 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Israel is a tiny state, and yet it has captured the world's attention, aroused its imagination, and, lately, been the object of its opprobrium. Why does such a small country speak to so many global concerns? More pressingly: Why does Israel make the decisions it does? And what lies in its future? We cannot answer these questions until we understand Israel's people and the questions and conflicts, the hopes and desires, that have animated their conversations and actions.
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Excellent, mildly but honestly biased, terrible narration
- By Schaq on 04-01-17
By: Daniel Gordis
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ISIS: The State of Terror
- By: Jessica Stern, J. M. Berger
- Narrated by: Ray Porter
- Length: 9 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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The Islamic State, known as ISIS, exploded into the public eye in 2014 with startling speed and shocking brutality. It has captured the imagination of the global jihadist movement, attracting recruits in unprecedented numbers and wreaking bloody destruction with a sadistic glee that has alienated even the hardcore terrorists of its parent organization, al Qaeda. Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger, two of America’s leading experts on terrorism, dissect the new model for violent extremism that ISIS has leveraged into an empire of death in Iraq and Syria, and an international network that is rapidly expanding in the Middle East, North Africa and around the world.
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Hope the current administration is reading this
- By Jonathan Love on 04-01-15
By: Jessica Stern, and others
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Great Catastrophe
- Armenians and Turks in the Shadow of Genocide
- By: Thomas de Waal
- Narrated by: David Rapkin
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The destruction of the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire in 1915-16 was the greatest atrocity of World War I. Around one million Armenians were killed, and the survivors were scattered across the world. Although it is now a century old, the issue of what most of the world calls the Armenian Genocide of 1915 is still a live and divisive issue that mobilizes Armenians across the world, shapes the identity and politics of modern Turkey, and has consumed the attention of U.S. politicians for years.
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- By shaq on 02-26-19
By: Thomas de Waal
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The Way of the Strangers
- Encounters with the Islamic State
- By: Graeme Wood
- Narrated by: Graeme Wood
- Length: 11 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Tens of thousands of men and women have left comfortable, privileged lives to join the Islamic State and kill for it. To them, its violence is beautiful and holy, and the caliphate a fulfillment of prophecy and the only place on earth where they can live and die as Muslims. The Way of the Strangers is an intimate journey into the minds of the Islamic State's true believers. From the streets of Cairo to the mosques of London, Wood interviews supporters, recruiters, and sympathizers of the group.
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A longer version of the Atlantic article
- By Nassir on 04-29-17
By: Graeme Wood
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Jerusalem
- A Biblical and Historical Case for the Jewish Capital
- By: Jay Sekulow
- Narrated by: Otis Jiry
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Jay Sekulow presents a political and historical rationale for the existence of Israel as a sovereign nation. Here is the audiobook that defends Israel's right to exist as a sovereign nation. As chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, Sekulow has fought with Israel hand-in-hand in some of Israel's most strategic, international battles. Now, he has pulled together the definitive and comprehensive look at Israel - one of the world's most controversial nations - and its importance to us as Americans and as a key focal point to the future of the world.
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If you love Israel, this is a must read
- By K. Hansen on 08-05-18
By: Jay Sekulow
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The Shia Revival
- How Conflicts within Islam Will Shape the Future
- By: Vali Nasr
- Narrated by: Fleet Cooper
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Profiled on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, Iranian-born scholar Vali Nasr has become one of America's leading commentators on current events in the Middle East, admired and welcomed by both media and government for his "concise and coherent" analysis (Wall Street Journal). In this "smart, clear and timely" book (Washington Post), Nasr brilliantly dissects the political and theological antagonisms within Islam. He provides a unique and objective understanding of the 1,400-year bitter struggle between Shias and Sunnis, and sheds crucial light on its modern-day consequences—from the nuclear posturing of Iran's President Ahmadinejad to the recent U.S.-enabled shift toward Shia power in Iraq and Hezbollah's continued dominance in Lebanon.
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The Narrator Needs Language Lessons
- By Pari Golha on 11-28-13
By: Vali Nasr
What listeners say about The ISIS Apocalypse
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Craig Schorling
- 01-04-17
Concise Overview of an Important Topic
What did you love best about The ISIS Apocalypse?
It did a good job of going over the key points, events, terms, and individuals involved in this topic while not dragging on.
Who was your favorite character and why?
There were so many names in this book that a repeat listen or reading of the physical copy would help cement the information within the book. I found myself looking up the individuals as they were presented and making notes as the novel progressed which helped a lot.
Did the narration match the pace of the story?
Yes. This is a factual book and is written almost like a textbook. The narration is devoid of emotion so it is just you and the facts. With that said, it can be dry and difficult to continue on at times.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
It is some scary stuff with no real answer in sight. It was an eye opening experience and has encouraged me to read more on the topic.
Any additional comments?
If you are looking for a neat, detailed, and to the point book about ISIS this meets the bill. I never found it to drag on at any point and am eager to learn more about the topic. This could be titled "ISIS 101".
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- David
- 11-21-15
Welcome to the cold deep end of the pool
This is not a good easy listen. It starts out boringly, gets a bit better but never rises to anything approaching literature. However, as one who extensively studied Islam I recommend this work as the best cold splash of reality you can find in one place and in such short order.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Brandon
- 12-04-17
Good book on the history of ISIS
Good book on the history of ISIS, but where it lacks is looking forward once ISIS is defeated.
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- James E. Carr
- 12-13-15
I get it now
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Absolutely. Should be required reading for every American. A concise but detailed 101 study of ISIS from which you can gain the baseline to know what is really going on with this terrorist group.
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- Philo
- 06-29-16
Clear on ideologies, history, situation, outlook
The whole story of course cannot be contained in this format and size book. It sprawls into other regions and times and sub-plots twisting back into history. But points go to this author, for a sharp job of picking up all sorts of threads and tying them together in this relatively short book. There are other pieces of the story readily available in audios already released. I found, as a good prelude to this one, The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 by Lawrence Wright, which follows the earlier jihadist history back to its "Johnny Appleseed" if you will, Qutb in the 1940s. This book picks up the Al Qaeda story and updates it, as ISIS and Al Qaeda's histories are intertwined and linked. But imagine ISIS, a group so ghastly and beyond the pale in recent history, Al Qaeda has been telling it to tone it down!
Any viral phenomenon, I suppose, if it will survive, likely loses some of its more edgy and fatal virulence as it matures and becomes hospitable to wider environs. Hence the transition from conquest to administration. Once-radical groups can theoretically become more settled, and have done so historically, though the author here is careful not to throw simplistic predictions around, or hide the messy complexities everyone faces who is touched or menaced by this. ISIS exists in history like anybody else, but is its own creature.
As for the ideologies, we get to see a swath of "Islamic" "prophecies" (countless people in all sorts of sects, dynasties and groups have been putting words into the mouth of the Prophet since the moment he died, to suit their own narratives, to the point anyone can cherry-pick virtually any narrative out of the morass of them, to condone pretty much anything). The Koran itself has certain dualities about peace and war, accord and violence, and the scholarship on the original Koran has been careful (compare its untouched word-for-word classical Arabic to countless iterations of the Jewish/Christian Bible from anybody who cares to venture a translation, with a huge divergence in key words and concepts), but Koran's overlay of hadith, etc., grafted on from all corners is like a deluge. Its a noisy mess of stuff. I guess it is no news that self-titled fundamentalists like anyone else can't resist tacking on their version to the supposedly perfect untouchable word of God. We see how situationally useful "prophecies" have been picked up by the ilk of ISIS (headed by a guy with a PhD in Koranic studies), the no-longer useful ones discarded as situations fail to cooperate, and the whole mess repackaged and retro-fitted continuously and marketed to ignorant (not-so-scholarly) young men at loose ends, the better to harness their raw youth energies and fit them with suicide vests, etc. All this helps us to focus intelligently and more calmly on the marginal members of our domestic and global societies who are out there in large numbers and fodder for cults like this, especially in the aftermath of the Cold War, and in the noisy superficiality of the Internet. The 20th century Cold War and narrowcast media (as I see it) imposed a larger polarized two-team (militarized, but more orderly, in ways) narrative onto things, to absorb the energies and attentions of such populations. Now anybody anywhere can get entrepreneurial with this kind of stuff, as they can with music, humor, etc. And new networks create overnight winners and losers in any kind of field. This briefing (which does not go afield into this sociological stuff I am overlaying here) helps create a context for understanding this particular aspect of our times. This author is, here, more specifically a middle east scholar.
At the end, the author reviews the problems now, in the overall region and situation, and reviews the current US policies in response. The current policies make considerable sense, given the messy tradeoffs and factors we face now (without going into a blame game about what this and that US leader did wrong in the past -- a topic this book does not address itself centrally to. That is a big chunk of the story from the US side, not to be ignored, but it is not the topic here). Of course, the situation is live and unfolding as we speak, and the responses will adjust accordingly. This is a great briefing.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Alex
- 05-22-17
Great Read!
An amazing read, but TERRIBLE narration (which unfortunately almost kept me from finishing the book).
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- CustomerXYZ
- 05-12-17
choose a new reader
The content of this book was very good but it was nearly unbearable to listen to. If I could get a refund, I would.
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- Amazon Customer
- 06-09-17
informative read
very informative book. Well written, organized and an easy read. thoroughly enjoyed it. Highly recommended
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- Chase
- 04-07-17
Great book. Bad reader.
Stephen McLaughlin need to learn how to pronounce Arabic words if he's reading a book like this. His pronunciation is so off that it deters the listener from comprehending his reading.
The book, is excellent and I would recommend it to anyone studying international terrorism and militant Islam.
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- Mike B.
- 01-16-17
Excellent text, annoying narrator
The text itself is fantastic--well-researched, scholarly, and high quality. The narrator's speech patterns are exceptionally irritating, however. The sharp exhale on every letter "p", the smacking of the tongue against the roof of the mouth on the letters “d” and “t”, the occasionally inconsistent pronunciation of Arabic names, the nasalized overtone, and the British accenting of select vowels from an American reader, are all extremely distracting.
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