Mark Silinsky is a veteran analyst in the Department of Defense, an adjunct professor at the United States Army War College, and an affiliate professor at the University of Haifa. He has served in U.S. Army intelligence; as an Army civilian Foreign Area Officer (FAO) for Eurasia, Russian language; an Africa analyst for the Defense Intelligence Agency; an action officer for the Joint Staff, J5; and a research fellow as part of the Exceptional Analyst Program. He is the author of The Taliban: Afghanistan's Most Lethal Insurgent Group.

• ForewordGlossaryIntroduction1. Black Flag over Babylon2. Eurabia and Beyond: The Caliphate's Breeding Ground3. The Caliphate in Western Culture4. Blue-Eyed Jihad: The Caliphate's Foreign Legion, Part One5. Blue-Eyed Jihad: The Caliphate's Foreign Legion, Part Two6. Salafist Dystopia: Life in the State7. The Killing Floor8. The Caliphate Abroad: The Anglo-Saxons9. Black Flags Abroad: The French SpeakersEpilogue: "A Taste of Vengeance"BibliographyIndex

"Using narrative, topic placement, and a pattern of case files, [Silinsky] expertly weaves the story of the current conflict through the points of view of perpetrators, victims, and nations as gathered from public sources."—Journal of Military History"This is an interesting and well-written comprehensive primer of the full magnitude of the Islamic State's jihadi war against the West, the extremist religious ideology that animates it, Western Muslim individuals who have been radicalized, indoctrinated, and mobilized to fight on its behalf, and their terrorist operations against the West."—Perspectives on Terrorism, December 2016"Curious about the roots of ISIS' bizarre and self-defeating fanaticism? Here's the book for you. Silinsky offers a smart, nuanced, personal, and informed account of its rise, revealing its inner logic and its ability to appeal to some Muslims and to horrify the rest of the world."—Daniel Pipes, President of the Middle East Forum