Jason Burke, frontline expert and bestselling author of Al-Qaeda, provides the essential guide to Islamic militancy today - and what we should expect in the approaching storm... From Algeria to China, from Yemen to the heart of Europe, Islamic extremism is stronger, more widespread and more threatening than ever. New groups such as ISIS and Boko Haram, whose aims and methods are radically different from their predecessors', command military power and even exert territorial control. Terrorist attacks in the West appear to be on the rise. Islamic militancy has undergone a massive transformation since the death of Osama bin Laden and the Arab Spring but our understanding of it remains warped by outdated notions, myths and propaganda. So what exactly is the nature of the new threat we now face? Drawing on almost two decades of first-hand expertise, as well a vast range of sources from intelligence officials to militants themselves, The New Threat cuts through the mass of opinion and misinformation and explains dispassionately and with total clarity what today's many and diverse forms of Islamic militancy actually want, why they are different from anything we have seen before and what we should expect from them in the coming years.

Author Biography

Jason Burke has been one of the foremost reporters on Islamic militancy for almost two decades, reporting for the Guardian and Observer from Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq and throughout the Middle East and South Asia. His bestselling book Al-Qaeda- The True Story of Radical Islam (2003), based on direct access to Islamic militants worldwide, overturned a multitude of misconceptions about Islamic extremism and rapidly established itself as the most accurate, readable and expert account of the phenomenon. His most recent book, The 9/11 Wars (2011), was described as 'the best overview of the 9/11 decade in print' (Economist). His books have been translated into twelve languages. He is currently south Asia correspondent for the Guardian.