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    In the Skin of a Jihadist: A Young Journalist Enters the ISIS Recruitment Network
    In the Skin of a Jihadist: A Young Journalist Enters the ISIS Recruitment Network
    In the Skin of a Jihadist: A Young Journalist Enters the ISIS Recruitment Network
    Audiobook5 hours

    In the Skin of a Jihadist: A Young Journalist Enters the ISIS Recruitment Network

    Written by Anna Erelle and Erin Potter

    4.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    The inspiration for the new film PROFILE, directed by Timur Bekmambetov, with a screenplay by Britt Poulton, Timur Bekmambetov, and Olga Kharina.

    A young French journalist’s riveting and unprecedented look at how today’s most ruthless terrorists use social media and technology to reach disaffected youth—witnessed through the undercover investigation that led to her deep involvement with a key member of ISIS.

    On Facebook, “Melodie”—a twenty-year-old-convert to Islam living with her mother and sister in Toulouse—meets 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 “Melodie” is actually Anna Erelle, a Parisian based journalist investigating the recruitment channels of the Islamic state, whose digital propaganda—Jihad 2.0—constitutes 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 Bilel—who 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, In the Skin of a Jihadist is a riveting page-turner that helps us better understand the appeal of extremism—and how an Islamic militant attempts to brainwash, seduce, and manipulate a vulnerable young woman.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherHarperAudio
    Release dateMay 26, 2015
    ISBN9780062433008
    Author

    Anna Erelle

    Anna Erelle is the pseudonym of a thirty-something French journalist who has written for major newspapers and magazines in France. In the Skin of a Jihadist is her first book.

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    Reviews for In the Skin of a Jihadist

    4.5/5

    40 ratings3 reviews

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    • 5/5
      I finished the entire thing in one day. I was hooked in the first 5 minutes. Such terrific & important writing.
    • 5/5
      This is quite a ride, a terrifying ride. The risks taken are just wild but the information gathered is what makes it terrifying. The way that these extremists collect young people for their ranks and whatever other desires they may have. I can’t imagine what it must have been like for this journalist to have found herself in the middle of all this. She tells us a lot of what she was thinking and her reactions to the risks taken but being in the situation must have involved so much more.
    • 5/5
      A French journalist enters into an on-line relationship with an ISIS leader who believes she is coming to Syria to marry him. The relationship is through Skype and she does wear a Burka. What is interesting and surprising is how this does become more than an assignment and continues to effect her life, once she ends the assignment. This should be required reading for all teen girls of 15-18!