I decided to write this book – much to the affable chagrin of some friends and colleagues who wondered why I would tackle a topic so complex – because the story of ISIS continues as one of the more important narratives now occupying our thoughts and our media. I wanted to go deeper than the restrictions of tonight’s newscasts would allow. As a career journalist and broadcaster, I have nothing but the greatest respect for the professionals who report in these newscasts on the ISIS insurgency. Most of them provide valuable chronicles under incredible and dangerous pressures, including threats to their personal safety.  But I hope to underpin and complement their reports with insights drawn from expert sources located around the world as a means of understanding this evil that seemingly appeared out of nowhere in 2014 but whose beginnings I trace back to 632A.D.