Souad Mekhennet is a German-born Moroccan Muslim, a Washington Post correspondent, still based in Germany. This is her brave and powerful memoir. Her life and her quest are nothing less than THE modern story.

I was told to come alone. I was not to carry any identification, and would have to leave my cell phone, audio recorder, watch, and purse at my hotel . . .

'Mekhennet's book is much more than a book of journalism, admirable as hers is: it is a remarkable record of a Muslim woman struggling to understand those who kill in the name of her religion, and to explain their actions to the uncomprehending Western world to which she belongs' The Economist

Souad Mekhennet, a Muslim woman born and educated in Germany and now a reporter for the Washington Post, has spent her life balancing the two sides of her upbringing.

'Courageous, perceptive and deeply knowledgeable ' Jason Burke



The surprise delight of the year for me... from a woman who covered the rise of al-Qaida, the Arab spring and then Isis via a remarkable and at times personally risky series of interviews with jihadi leaders. But it's also a highly readable primer on the forces that gave rise to jihad, and an insight into the complexities of immigrant identity and loyalty... In a slippery post-truth world, her book is a reminder of just how much meticulously investigated and reported truths matter.
Gaby Hinscliffe, the Guardian Best Books of 2017
Winner of the Daniel Pearl Award

I was told to come alone. I was not to carry any identification, and would have to leave my cell phone, audio recorder, watch, and purse at my hotel . . .
For her whole life, Souad Mekhennet, a reporter for the Washington Post who was born and educated in Germany, has had to balance the two sides of her upbringing - Muslim and Western. She has also sought to provide a mediating voice between these cultures, which too often misunderstand each other.
In this compelling and evocative memoir, we accompany Mekhennet as she journeys behind the lines of jihad, starting in the German neighbourhoods where the 9/11 plotters were radicalised and the Iraqi neighbourhoods where Sunnis and Shia turned against one another, and culminating on the Turkish/Syrian border region where ISIS is a daily presence. In her travels across the Middle East and North Africa, she documents her chilling run-ins with various intelligence services and shows why the Arab Spring never lived up to its promise. She then returns to Europe, first in London, where she uncovers the identity of the notorious ISIS executioner 'Jihadi John', and then in France, Belgium and her native Germany, where terror has come to the heart of Western civilisation.
Mekhennet's background has given her unique access to some of the world's most wanted men, who generally refuse to speak to Western journalists. She is not afraid to face personal danger to reach out to individuals in the inner circles of Al Qaeda, the Taliban, ISIS and their affiliates; when she is told to come alone to an interview, she never knows what awaits at her destination.
Souad Mekhennet is an ideal guide to introduce us to the human beings behind the ominous headlines, as she shares her transformative journey with us. Hers is a story you will not soon forget.