The Mind of the Islamic State ─ ISIS and the Ideology of the Caliphate

In the ongoing conflict with ISIS, military observers and regional experts have noted that it is just as important to understand its motivating ideology as to win battles on the ground. This book traces the evolution of this ideology from its origins in the prison writings of the revolutionary jihadist Sayyid Qutb, through the thinking of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, who planned the 9/11 terrorist attack, to today's incendiary screeds that motivate terrorism via the Internet.

Chief among these recent texts are two documents that provide the foundation for ISIS terrorism. One is called The Management of Savagery, essentially a handbook for creating mayhem through acts of violence. The other is the online magazine of horror called Dabiq, which combines theological justifications with ultraviolent means, apocalyptic dreams, and genocidal ambitions. Professor Manne provides close, original, and lucid readings of these important documents. He introduces readers to a strange, cruel, but internally coherent and consistent political ideology, which has now entered the minds of very large numbers of radicalized Muslims in the Middle East, North Africa, and the West.

However disturbing and unsettling, this book is essential reading for anyone concerned about terrorist violence.

Robert Manne is the author or editor of twenty-seven books. The Petrov Affair won the Washington National Study Center's Prize in 1988 for books in the field of intelligence published by a non-American author. In Denial won the Queensland Premier's Prize in 2001 for a work advancing public debate. Between 1987 and 2005 he was a columnist on public affairs for all the main Australian newspapers--the Melbourne Herald, the Australian, the Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. Manne has also been a frequent contributor to Australia's public radio and television corporation, the ABC, over several decades. Between 1990 and 1997 he was editor of one of Australia's most significant magazines of ideas, Quadrant. He has also served as the editorial board chair of Australian Book Review and The Monthly magazine. In two surveys of peers conducted in 2005 he was voted Australia's leading public intellectual. Manne is presently Vice-Chancellor's Fellow, Emeritus Professor and Convenor of the Ideas & Society Program at La Trobe University. He is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia.