I was told to come alone : my journey behind the lines of jihad / Souad Mekhennet.
By: Mekhennet, Souad [author.].
Material type: TextPublisher: New York : Henry Holt and Company, 2017Copyright date: ©2017Edition: First edition.Description: 354 pages ; 25 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9781627798976; 1627798978.Subject(s): Emwazi, Mohammed, -2015 | Mekhennet, Souad | IS (Organization) | Jihad | Terrorism -- Middle East | BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY -- Personal Memoirs | POLITICAL SCIENCE -- Political Freedom & Security -- Terrorism | RELIGION -- Islam -- GeneralGenre/Form: Biographies.Item type | Current library | Collection | Shelving location | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Book | Haddon Twp. | Nonfiction | Adult | 363.325 Mek (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 05000009173894 |
Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:
"I was told to come alone. I was not to carry any identification, and would have to leave my cell phone, audio recorder, watch, and purse at my hotel. . . ."
For her whole life, Souad Mekhennet, a reporter for The Washington Post who was born and educated in Germany, has had to balance the two sides of her upbringing - Muslim and Western. She has also sought to provide a mediating voice between these cultures, which too often misunderstand each other.
In this compelling and evocative memoir, we accompany Mekhennet as she journeys behind the lines of jihad, starting in the German neighborhoods where the 9/11 plotters were radicalized and the Iraqi neighborhoods where Sunnis and Shia turned against one another, and culminating on the Turkish/Syrian border region where ISIS is a daily presence. In her travels across the Middle East and North Africa, she documents her chilling run-ins with various intelligence services and shows why the ArabSpring never lived up to its promise. She then returns to Europe, first in London, where she uncovers the identity of the notorious ISIS executioner "Jihadi John," and then in France, Belgium, and her native Germany, where terror has come to the heart of Western civilization.
Mekhennet's background has given her unique access to some of the world's most wanted men, who generally refuse to speak to Western journalists. She is not afraid to face personal danger to reach out to individuals in the inner circles of Al Qaeda, the Taliban, ISIS, and their affiliates; when she is told to come alone to an interview, she never knows what awaits at her destination.
Souad Mekhennet is an ideal guide to introduce us to the human beings behind the ominous headlines, as she shares her transformative journey with us. Hers is a story you will not soon forget.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Prologue: Meeting ISIS: Turkey, 2014 -- Stranger in a strange land: Germany and Morocco, 1978-93 -- The Hamburg cell: Germany, 1994-2003 -- A country with a divided soul: Iraq, 2003-4 -- A call from Khaled el-Masri: Germany and Algeria, 2004-6 -- Even if I die today or tomorrow: Lebanon, 2007 -- The lost boys of Zarqa: Jordan, 2007 -- The value of a life: Algeria, 2008 -- Guns and roses: Pakistan, 2009 -- Mukhabarat: Egypt, 2011 -- This is not an Arab spring: Germany and Tunisia, 2011 -- Threats: Bahrain, Iran, and Germany, 2011-13 -- Boys for the Caliphate: Germany, 2013 -- Brides for the Caliphate: Germany and France, 2014-15 -- The search for an Islamist Beatle, or Finding Jihadi John: Britain, 2014-15 -- Terror comes home: Austria, France, and Belgium, 2015-16 -- Epilogue: The deepest cut: Germany and Morocco, 2016.
"The journalist who broke the "Jihadi John" story draws on her personal experience to bridge the gap between the Muslim world and the West and explain the rise of Islamic radicalism Souad Mekhennet has lived her entire life between worlds. The daughter of a Turkish mother and a Moroccan father, she was born and educated in Germany and has worked for several American newspapers. Since the 9/11 attacks she has reported stories among the most dangerous members of her religion; when she is told to come alone to an interview, she never knows what awaits at her destination. In this compelling and evocative book, Mekhennet seeks to answer the question, "What is in the minds of these young jihadists, and how can we understand and defuse it?" She has unique and exclusive access into the world of jihad and sometimes her reporting has put her life in danger. We accompany her from Germany to the heart of the Muslim world -- from the Middle East to North Africa, from Sunni Pakistan to Shia Iran, and the Turkish/ Syrian border region where ISIS is a daily presence. She then returns to Europe, first in London, where she uncovers the identity of the notorious ISIS executioner "Jihadi John," and then in Paris and Brussels, where terror has come to the heart of Western civilization. Too often we find ourselves unable to see the human stories behind the headlines, and so Mekhennet - with a foot in many different camps - is the ideal guide to take us where no Western reporter can go. Her story is a journey that changes her life and will have a deep impact on us as well"--