An eye-opening account revealing that Iraqi competence and heroism were essential to its victory over terrorism.
A history of the defeat of the Islamic State group in Iraq, featuring an unexpected cast of heroes.
Many Americans believe that the invasion of Iraq was a multitrillion-dollar debacle that replaced a vicious dictator with a failed state. Having suppressed the insurgency and al-Qaida, the U.S. withdrew in 2011, whereupon al-Qaida’s even more vicious successor, IS, came roaring back before American forces returned to lead the fight against it. Journalist Coker, former New York Times Baghdad bureau chief, begs to differ, if only regarding recent events in which Iraqis played a central role. A leading figure is Abu Ali al-Basri, a dissident who returned in 2003 after nearly 20 years in exile. However, because he didn’t learn English during that time, “he wasn’t part of the exile cliques” chosen by Americans to introduce democratic government. By 2006, with terrorism running rampant, no one, including CIA officials, doubted that the billions spent on Iraq’s intelligence and security agency were wasted. At the time, Iraq’s prime minister, who didn’t trust his intelligence director, appointed the then-obscure al-Basri to lead his own team. Working quietly for years with a handful of trustworthy men and eschewing the usual strong-arm tactics, he gathered information and sent men undercover, ultimately convincing even the Americans that he knew his business. Coker adds vivid accounts of two major supporting characters: Harith Al-Sudani, a college dropout who joined al-Basri’s agency, infiltrated an IS cell, and foiled dozens of bombings before being caught, tortured, and beheaded; and Abrar al-Kubaisi, a chemist and “member of the city’s educated elite,” who was devastated by the chaos and loss of status that followed the invasion. Rejected by IS after offering her expertise in poison, she planned her own mass murder. Much of the text is novelistic, with the author providing perhaps too much insight into her characters’ emotions and movements, but the basic story, and many of its intriguing details, will be fresh for most American readers.
An eye-opening account revealing that Iraqi competence and heroism were essential to its victory over terrorism.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-06-294742-0
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
A dauntless, moving account of a kidnapping and the horrors that followed.
Enduring the unthinkable.
This memoir—the first by an Israeli taken captive by Hamas on October 7, 2023—chronicles the 491 days the author was held in Gaza. Confined to tunnels beneath war-ravaged streets, Sharabi was beaten, humiliated, and underfed. When he was finally released in February, he learned that Hamas had murdered his wife and two daughters. In the face of scarcely imaginable loss, Sharabi has crafted a potent record of his will to survive. The author’s ordeal began when Hamas fighters dragged him from his home, in a kibbutz near Gaza. Alongside others, he was held for months at a time in filthy subterranean spaces. He catalogs sensory assaults with novelistic specificity. Iron shackles grip his ankles. Broken toilets produce an “unbearable stink,” and “tiny white worms” swarm his toothbrush. He gets one meal a day, his “belly caving inward.” Desperate for more food, he stages a fainting episode, using a shaving razor to “slice a deep gash into my eyebrow.” Captors share their sweets while celebrating an Iranian missile attack on Israel. He and other hostages sneak fleeting pleasures, finding and downing an orange soda before a guard can seize it. Several times, Sharabi—51 when he was kidnapped—gives bracing pep talks to younger compatriots. The captives learn to control what they can, trading family stories and “lift[ing] water bottles like dumbbells.” Remarkably, there’s some levity. He and fellow hostages nickname one Hamas guard “the Triangle” because he’s shaped like a SpongeBob SquarePants character. The book’s closing scenes, in which Sharabi tries to console other hostages’ families while learning the worst about his own, are heartbreaking. His captors “are still human beings,” writes Sharabi, bravely modeling the forbearance that our leaders often lack.
A dauntless, moving account of a kidnapping and the horrors that followed.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780063489790
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Harper Influence/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
A powerful reiteration of principles—and some fresh ideas—from the longest-serving independent in congressional history.
Another chapter in a long fight against inequality.
Building on his Fighting Oligarchy tour, which this year drew 280,000 people to rallies in red and blue states, Sanders amplifies his enduring campaign for economic fairness. The Vermont senator offers well-timed advice for combating corruption and issues a robust plea for national soul-searching. His argument rests on alarming data on the widening wealth gap’s impact on democracy. Bolstered by a 2010 Supreme Court decision that removed campaign finance limits, “100 billionaire families spent $2.6 billion” on 2024 elections. Sanders focuses on the Trump administration and congressional Republicans, describing their enactment of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” with its $1 trillion in tax breaks for the richest Americans and big social safety net cuts, as the “largest transfer of wealth” in living memory. But as is his custom, he spreads the blame, dinging Democrats for courting wealthy donors while ignoring the “needs and suffering” of the working class. “Trump filled the political vacuum that the Democrats created,” he writes, a resonant diagnosis. Urging readers not to surrender to despair, Sanders offers numerous legislative proposals. These would empower labor unions, cut the workweek to 32 hours, regulate campaign spending, reduce gerrymandering, and automatically register 18-year-olds to vote. Grassroots supporters can help by running for local office, volunteering with a campaign, and asking educators how to help support public schools. Meanwhile, Sanders asks us “to question the fundamental moral values that underlie” a system that enables “the top 1 percent” to “own more wealth than the bottom 93 percent.” Though his prose sometimes reads like a transcribed speech with built-in applause lines, Sanders’ ideas are specific, clear, and commonsensical. And because it echoes previous statements, his call for collective introspection lands as genuine.
A powerful reiteration of principles—and some fresh ideas—from the longest-serving independent in congressional history.Pub Date: Oct. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9798217089161
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
