Things move fast, and confusingly, in today's Middle East, but Patrick Cockburn's The Rise of Islamic State (Verso, 2015), which I have just read, gives a detailed account of events in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Turkey and Egypt among other places.
Cockburn is a knowledgeable (and I must say, intrepid) journalist and writer who has covered the region for some years. He copes brilliantly with a very convoluted tribal, ethnic and 'confessional' picture.
Amusing it certainly isn't: it's a grim, grim narrative that recounts often horrible events, with no end in sight. But I would recommend it to anyone interested and not too easily upset.
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