Black Flags

The Rise of ISIS

By: Joby Warrick

Narrated by: Sunil Malhotra

Length: 13 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

WINNER OF THE 2016 PULITZER PRIZE FOR GENERAL NONFICTION

“A Best Book of 2015”—The New York Times, The Washington Post, People Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Kansas City Star, and Kirkus Reviews

In a thrilling dramatic narrative, awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction, Joby Warrick traces how the strain of militant Islam behind ISIS first arose in a remote Jordanian prison and spread with the unwitting aid of two American presidents.

When the government of Jordan granted amnesty to a group of political prisoners in 1999, it little realized that among them was Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a terrorist mastermind and soon the architect of an Islamist movement bent on dominating the Middle East. In Black Flags, an unprecedented character-driven account of the rise of ISIS, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Joby Warrick shows how the zeal of this one man and the strategic mistakes of Presidents Bush and Obama led to the banner of ISIS being raised over huge swaths of Syria and Iraq.

Zarqawi began by directing terror attacks from a base in northern Iraq, but it was the American invasion in 2003 that catapulted him to the head of a vast insurgency. By falsely identifying him as the link between Saddam and bin Laden, U.S. officials inadvertently spurred like-minded radicals to rally to his cause. Their wave of brutal beheadings and suicide bombings persisted until American and Jordanian intelligence discovered clues that led to a lethal airstrike on Zarqawi’s hideout in 2006.

His movement, however, endured. First calling themselves al-Qaeda in Iraq, then Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, his followers sought refuge in unstable, ungoverned pockets on the Iraq-Syria border. When the Syrian civil war broke out in 2011, and as the U.S. largely stood by, ISIS seized its chance to pursue Zarqawi’s dream of an ultra-conservative Islamic caliphate.

Drawing on unique high-level access to CIA and Jordanian sources, Warrick weaves gripping, moment-by-moment operational details with the perspectives of diplomats and spies, generals and heads of state, many of whom foresaw a menace worse than al Qaeda and tried desperately to stop it. Black Flags is a brilliant and definitive history that reveals the long arc of today’s most dangerous extremist threat.

©2015 Joby Warrick (P)2015 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"Drawing on his unrivaled sources and access, Joby Warrick has written a profoundly important and groundbreaking book, one that reads like a novel, riveting from the first page to the last. If you want to know the story behind ISIS, and all of us should, this is the book you must read." (Martha Raddatz, chief global affairs correspondent, ABC News)
"[A] crisply written, chilling account.... Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter Warrick confidently weaves a cohesive narrative from an array of players - American officials, CIA officers, Jordanian royalty and security operatives, religious figures, and terrorists - producing an important geopolitical overview with the grisly punch of true-crime nonfiction.... The author focuses on dramatic flashpoints and the roles of key players, creating an exciting tale with a rueful tone, emphasizing how the Iraq invasion's folly birthed ISIS and created many missed opportunities to stop al-Zarqawi quickly." ( Kirkus Reviews)

Good storytelling.

A quick recap: The first 6 hours address faults at the Bush administration, there's 20 minutes addressing faults at the Obama administration and the rest is great listening as it discusses specifics about King Abdulla II and al-Zarqawi.

Very informative, detect a political bias

A great deal of information and was a good listen. Was slightly disappointed that there was some political bias. Bush was portrayed as incompetent but Hillary Clinton and the Obama Administration was treated like they were just trying to do the right thing.

Great Storytelling and engaging from beginning to end

A very expansive view at multiple players in the rise of Isis and how those players influenced the outcomes. Highly recommend

Ahinnist Sipes

Great book, really enjoyed learning everything in it. Made me wish for a part 2.

Good perspective on the rise of ISIS.

I enjoyed the perspective posed through a Jordanian lens. I found this very informative.

essential reading

I'm getting ready to deploy overseas right now, and this book help me understand the conflict in a much greater depth.

An outstanding book for anyone interested in ISIS

Clearly well researched, wonderfully written, and engagingly read , Warrick takes you on a journey from ISIS’s infancy to full maturity and all the steps along the way. I found the book both interesting and entertaining and highly recommend.

not enough everyday ppl understand this issue

This read like a great long form article. It explained in detail the events in a way that someone with basic knowledge of the subject could understand and benefit from its intended message/lessons. It married the testimony of key players with events in harmony. Everyone who wants to have an opinion on what America's role in going after ISIS should read this book before deciding their opinions.

Great book, phenomenal narration

This information dense book listened like a dream. Puts context around current events in the Middle East.

Highly entertaining history

This was a great book! It thoroughly explained the rise of ISIS as well as the US’s changing intervention policy over time. The story telling is incredibly well done, i could not stop listening and finished the entire thing in two days. Great narrator as well