ISIS: An Introduction and Guide to the Islamic State. By Brian L. Steed. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2016. 197 pages. Acid free $58 (ISBN 978-1-4408-4986-2). E-book available (978-1-4408-4987-9), call for pricing.

In the past two years there has been a proliferation of books aimed at educating readers about all aspects of ISIS and its development. While this work falls within this corpus, it is unique in its hybrid reference book format. The first part of the work provides nine sections of topical snapshots such as, “What Is In a Name?: IS, ISIS, ISIL, Da’ash,” “The Attraction of ISIS,” and “ISIS and the Media.” Within some of these sections there are encyclopedic entries arranged topically, for instance under “Leaders of ISIS” four biographies are given. The next part of the work is a typical A-Z encyclopedia of nearly seventy people, places, and ideas associated with the group. The entries are subdivided into sections including, “What is important?” or “Why does it matter?” and “Key events in his life” when discussing people. For subjects covered earlier in the topical portion of the work, there are “see” references back to that section. There is a rather extensive chronology going as far back as fifteen years covering precursor events leading to the declaration of the Islamic State in June 2014. The volume has two maps covering ISIS activity and area of control, but would have been furthered had it included more detailed maps, especially date based maps of growth and decline. There are some areas that could have been explored more, for example, the destruction and looting of antiquities, which is only briefly mentioned despite being highly publicized by the group and covered extensively in Western media. Also, special consideration of the group’s exploitation of vulnerable populations such as women, children, and displaced peoples could have been explored in more depth, none are listed in the index.

A book covering events that are still unfolding is always fraught on some level. Case in point, several major events have occurred in the intervening months between the final editing of the book and this review, including the recapture of Fallujah by Iraqi government forces, several notable ISIS planned or inspired terrorist attacks in the Middle East, South Asia, Europe, and the United States, and an attempted coup in Turkey to name a few. Every day that passes, this work will lose some relevance and currency. Nonetheless, it provides a solid introduction to the major players, events, and ideologies that led to the development of ISIS, its rapid military successes, and the beginning of the group’s unraveling. It is recommended for undergraduate serving academic and public libraries.—Brent D. Singleton, Coordinator for Reference Services, California State University, San Bernardino