The chilling, must-read debut by award-winning war crimes investigator Hollie S. McKay!

 

Only once in a lifetime does a war so brutal erupt. A war that becomes an official genocide, causes millions to run from their homes, compels the slaughtering of thousands in the most horrific of ways, and inspires terrorist attacks to transpire across the world.  

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That is the chilling legacy of the ISIS onslaught, and Only Cry for the Living takes a profoundly personal, unprecedented dive into one of the most brutal terrorist organizations in the world.  

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Journalist Hollie S. McKay offers a raw, on-the-ground journey chronicling the rise of ISIS in Iraq exposing the group's vast impact and how and why it sought to wage terror on civilians in a desperate attempt to create an antiquated caliphate.

  

The book, constructed chronologically through memos, captures the historical impact of ISIS across Iraq and Syria, as seen through the eyes of sex slave survivors, internally displaced people, persecuted minorities, humanitarian workers, religious leaders, military commanders, and even the terrorists themselves.   

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It is not only a book that casts a haunting light on some of the darkest corners of the globe, but it is also a narrative brimming with silver-linings that illuminate the resiliency of the human spirit. It is a tragedy underscored by the heroic efforts of ordinary human beings to pick up the pieces, to fight back, and to believe that their voices matter.

 

To  truly understand the nature of terrorism and extremism to stop another ISIS from spilling needless blood we must listen to the lessons of those who lived it, fought it, joined it and rejected it.