Book Review: Inside IS – 10 Days In The Islamic State
Book Review: Inside IS – 10 Days In The Islamic State

Summary/Abstract: The rise of Islamic terrorism after the 2001 and 2003 interventions in the Middle East and the following process of Arab spring has become one of the most burning security issues of the 21st Century. Nevertheless, the public concerns over terrorism declined after death of Osama bin Laden, leader of the terrorist group al-Qaeda in 2011, believing that removal of the leader of this organisation would mean its gradual weakening and disruption. Yet, we already know that al-Qaeda’s goals and practices were very moderate compared to the other group accumulating power in the background since 2001 – the Islamic state (IS). The clashes between Shi’a and Sunni Muslims caught the attention of the Western world again only after the Muslim fighters started to bring over their activities to Europe and commit terrorist attacks in the name of the IS directly in the EU member states. Nowadays, the IS is well known for its practice of abductions and public executions of its enemies, especially Western tourists and journalists. Despite the risk, a German born journalist Jürgen Todenhöfer decided to take a chance of spending ten days, from 6 December to 15 December 2014, on the territory occupied by the IS, only three months after execution of the American freelance war-journalist James Folley in Syria as a response to the American air strikes in Iraq. The outcome of his journey is a book that offers quite unique insight into the running of the IS, its efforts and, most interestingly, into the ideology of its members explaining the relation to the other religious groups including Christians; world-conquering efforts; as well as convictions behind activities of the European converts and suicide attackers.

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