Most of my friends and relatives are immersed in shopping, feasting and happy parties. When it comes to reading, 'tis the season for uplifting tales of hope and love. But the darker, real world intrudes--the Paris terror attacks, the Russian airplane downing, the San Bernardino mayhem, the terror-threat LAUSD school closure, the fiery rhetoric of presidential candidates--and all that grim news sometimes drowns out the cheery mall music. Heading up the enemies of peace is ISIS, the violent movement to create an Islamic caliphate. So, paradoxically, to further peace and goodwill this season, some of the best gifts may be books that help explain ISIS and today's terror threat, because only by understanding can we mount an effective defense and avoid irrational reactions that risk injecting our own society with the hate-filled bigotry we fear. A recent Wall Street Journal blog post provided 10 must-read recommendations on the topic. Focusing on those published or updated just this year, there is The ISIS Apocalypse: The History, Strategy, and Doomsday Vision of the Islamic State by William McCants, director of the Project on U.S. Relations with the Islamic World at the Brookings Institution and translator of a key Jihadist text, “Management of Savagery.” For a wider and longer viewpoint, read The Levant: A Fractured Mosaic by William Harris, a survey of the Middle East's Levant region including Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and parts of Jordan and Iraq. Harris offers a sweeping history of the structural and geographic determinants of today's turmoil there. Finally, you can refocus on ISIS with 2015's ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror by U.S. journalist Michael Weiss and Syrian analyst Hassan Hassan, who describe the group’s history and tactics within the context of Iraq and its post-2003 insurgency. For more book suggestions, read http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2015/11/17/10-must-read-books-on-terrorism/
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