Children of Jihad : A Young American's Travels among the Youth of the Middle East

While still an undergraduate at Stanford University, Jared Cohen ran with guerrillas in the Congo, survived numerous close calls with local warlords, and witnessed the awful aftermath of decades of sectarian violence, all to try to understand the continent's troubled state of affairs. After seeing radical Islamist violence beginning to spread across Africa, he came to the conclusion that, in order to fully understand the phenomenon, the Middle East had to be his next destination. Studying on a Rhodes Scholarship at the University of Oxford, he took a crash course in Arabic and read voraciously on the history and culture of the Middle East; in 2004 he embarked on the first of a series of incredible journeys to the region. Despite the fact that he was a Jewish American, he reached out to Middle Eastern youth in areas few Westerners would ever venture into, putting himself in incredible danger in order to understand their culture and their views on government, Israel, and America. Children of Jihad is Cohen's account of his travels in the Middle East. Written with candour and insight, Cohen's trip begins in Lebanon, where he interviews Hezbollah members at, of all places, a McDonalds. In Iran, he defies government threats and sneaks into underground parties, where bootleg liquor, Western music, and the Internet are all easy to access. His dangerous itinerary also takes him to a Palestinian refugee camp in southern Lebanon, borderlands in Syria, the insurgency hotbed of Mosul, and other frontline locales. At each turn, he observes a paradoxical culture at an uncanny crossroads: Bedouin shepherds with satellite dishes that provide western TV shows, young women wearing garish makeup despite religious mandates, teenagers sending text messages and arranging illicit trysts. A gripping and essential read for understanding the evolving Middle East, Children of Jihad shows us the future through the eyes of those who are shaping it.

After completing this book, Jared Cohen joined the U.S. Department of State. A Stanford graduate, Oxford graduate, and Rhodes scholar, he has conducted extensive research in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. He has appeared in the media, including The Colbert Report, CNN, NPR, BBC, MSNBC, ABC, Fox News, and a variety of other TV and radio programs. He works in Washington, D.C.