ISIS and the Pornography of Violence

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'ISIS and the Pornography of Violence is a compilation of Simon Cottee's extensive repertoire of stories and reporting on ISIS from 2014 to 2018, with particular focus on ISIS videos, motivations and propaganda. It challenges well-worn concepts and provides a breath of fresh air to the study of ISIS terrorism.' Mia Bloom, Professor of Communication and Middle East Studies, Georgia State University, USA

ISIS and the Pornography of Violence is a collection of iconoclastic essays on ISIS, spanning the four-year period from its ascendancy in late 2014 to its demise in early 2018. From a trenchant critique of the infantilization of jihadists to a probing examination of the parallels between gonzo porn and ISIS beheading videos, the pieces collected in this volume challenge conventional ways of thinking about ISIS and the roots of its appeal. Simon Cottee's core argument is that Western ISIS recruits, far from being brainwashed or "vulnerable" dupes, actively responded to the group's promise of redemptive violence and self-sacrifice to a total cause.

Author Bio

Simon Cottee is a senior lecturer in criminology at the University of Kent, UK, and a contributing writer for The Atlantic. He is the author of The Apostates: When Muslims Leave Islam (2015) and the coeditor of Christopher Hitchens and His Critics: Terror, Iraq, and the Left (2008). Cottee is a regular contributor to the New York Times, Foreign Policy, the Los Angeles Times, the National Post and Vice, and a contributing editor of the journal, Studies in Conflict & Terrorism.