"Last year was a 'blood year' in the Middle east : massacres and beheadings, fallen cities, collapsed and collapsing states, the unravelling of a decade of Western strategy. We saw the rise of ISIS, the splintering of government in Iraq, an dforeign fighters, many from Europe, Australia and Africa, flowing into Syria at a rate ten times that during the height of the Iraq War. What went wrong? ... Kilcullen looks to strategy and history to make sense of the crisis. What are the roots and causes of the global jihan movement? WHat is ISIS? WHat threats does it pose to Australia? WHat does its rise say about the efffectiveness of the War on Terror since 9/11, and what does a coherent strategy look like after a disastrous year?" -- From the back cover.

Includes Correspondence in reference to past essay : Dear life by Karen Hitchcock, and a response to the correspondence by that author.