"Patrick Cockburn spotted the emergence of ISIS much earlier than anybody else and wrote about it with a depth of understanding that was just in a league of its own. Nobody else was writing that stuff at that time, and the judges wondered whether the Government should consider pensioning off the whole of MI6 and hiring Patrick Cockburn instead. The breadth of his knowledge and his ability make connections is phenomenal." --Judges of the Foreign Affairs Journalist of the Year Award 2014 "Quite simply, the best Western journalist at work in the Middle East today." --Seymour M. Hersh "One of the best informed on-the-ground journalists. He was almost always correct on Iraq." --Sidney Blumenthal, in an email to Hillary Clinton Praise for The Rise of Islamic State : "A wonderful book.

" --Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, BBC News "Excellent." --Richard Norton-Taylor, Guardian "Amid the many books published on the current conflicts reshaping the Middle East, few are as informative or perceptive." --Observer "Accessible . Cockburn, an experienced Mideast journalist, offers revealing anecdotes on the decrepit state of the Iraqi Army and the sluggish and brutal military stalemate in Syria . Cockburn describes a continuing tragedy in which hubris and optimism destroyed a seemingly promising revolution." --Tom Engelhardt, TomDispatch "Authoritative." -- Washington Post "A brilliant book on ISIS." --Tom Holland, The Andrew Marr Show.