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IN THE SKIN OF A JIHADIST
By: Anna Erelle
A Young Journalist Enters the ISIS Recruitment Network
HarperCollins
June 2015
On Sale: May 26, 2015
240 pages
ISBN: 006241707X
EAN: 9780062417077
Kindle: B00U1ZV8DW
Paperback / e-Book
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Non-Fiction Memoir | Non-Fiction
A young French journalistβs riveting and unprecedented look at how todayβs most ruthless terrorists use social media and technology to reach disaffected youthβwitnessed through the undercover investigation that led to her deep involvement with a key member of ISIS. On Facebook, βMelodieββa twenty-year-old-convert to Islam living with her mother and sister in Toulouseβmeets Bilel, a French-born, high-ranking militant for the Islamic State in Syria. Within days, Bilel falls in love with Melodie, Skypes her repeatedly, and adamantly urges her to come to Syria, marry him, and do jihad. The honey-tongued suitor promises the innocent, fatherless young girl a life of material comfort and spiritual purpose.
But βMelodieβ is actually Anna Erelle, a Parisian based journalist investigating the recruitment channels of the Islamic state, whose digital propagandaβJihad 2.0βconstitutes one of its most formidable and frightening weapons, successfully mobilizing increasing numbers of young Europeans.
In this taut and riveting true story, Erelle chronicles her intense, month-long relationship with Bilelβwho turns out to be none other than the right hand man of Abou Bakr al-Baghadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of ISIS. Impatient for Melodie to join him, Bilel tells her that, according to an imam, they are already all but married, and will be officially when she arrives in Syria. As she embarks on the final, most dangerous stage of her investigation, Melodie leaves for Amsterdam to begin her journey to the Middle East. But things go terribly wrong.
A gripping and often harrowing inquiry into the factors that motivate young people to join extremist causes, and a shocking exploration of how technology and social media are spreading radicalism, The Mind of a Jihadist is a riveting page-turner that helps us better understand the appeal of extremismβand how an Islamic militant attempts to brainwash, seduce, and manipulate a vulnerable young woman.
 Media BuzzPBS News Hour - June 1, 2015
CBS This Morning - May 27, 2015
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