The Rise of the Islamic State
Arising out of al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Islamic State has become a powerful movement in the Middle East, committing horrendous atrocities against Muslims (the Shi'a in particular, but any whom they deem as not "true" believers), Christians, Yazidis, Westerners, and those who sympathize or collaborate with western democracies. Many may be wondering how such a group could have arisen and why it is they think and act as they do? The resources below will help address these questions, exploring how the Islamic State came into existence and what informs its ideology. While there are many resources on this subject, what is offered below are sources from credible scholars and journalists who have been working in the fields of Middle Eastern or Islamist studies for a number of years.
Books
ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror, by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan
Weiss is a New York-based journalist who covers Syria, Iraq, ISIS, Russia and Ukraine. His pieces have appeared in Foreign Policy, Daily Beast and other journals. Hassan is a Syrian who is a resident fellow at the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy in Washington, D.C. and has written widely on Syria, Iraq, the Gulf States, and Islamist groups.
ISIS: The State of Terror, by Jessica Stern and J.M. Berger
Stern is an academic who focuses on terrorism and serves as a Research Professor at the Pardee School of Global Studies at Botson University. Berger is a fellow with George Washington University's Program on Extremism and an associate fellow with the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism at the Hague.
Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS, by Joby Warrick
Warrick recently was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for this book on ISIS. He began writing for the Washigton Post in 1996 and covers the Middle East, diplomacy, national security and terrorism.
Terror Years: From Al-Qaeda to the Islamic State, by Lawrence Wright
Wright wrote the Pulitzer Prize winning book The Looming Tower in 2006, which marked him out as one of the top journalists covering terrorism in the Middle East. He is currently a staff writer for The New Yorker and covers a number of areas.
In the Skin of a Jihadist: A Young Journalist Enters the ISIS Recruitment Network, by Anna Erelle
Anna Erelle is the pseudonym of a French journalist who, undercover, became deeply involved with a key member of ISIS. This book provides an unprecedented inside look at ISIS from her experience.
Defeating ISIS: Who They Are, How They Fight, What They Believe, by Malcolm Nance
Nance is a globally recognized counterterrorism expert and Intelligence Community member who has been deployed to many places, including the Middle East.
Reports
From Paper State to Caliphate: The Ideology of the Islamic State, by Cole Bunzel
Bunzel is a graduate student in the department of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. He produced this forty-eight page analysis paper in March 2015 for the Brookings Institute.
The Islamic State and U.S. Policy, by Christopher M. Blanchard and Carla E. Humud
This report is produced by the Congressional Research Service, which provides research for members of Congress. Blanchard is a specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs and Humud is an Analyst in Middle Eastern and African Affairs. Another report from the Congressional Research Service that may be of interest is: The "Islamic State" Crisis and U.S. Policy.
The Wilson Center, contributions from numerous scholars
The Woodrow Wilson Center is a non-partisan forum that gathers experts from around the world to produce research on global issues.
Videos
The Rise of ISIS, by Frontline
You can also view this video on-line here.
The Secret History of ISIS, by Frontline
Find this article at http://thelibrary.org/blogs/article.cfm?aid=4390&lid=45