The United States and Australia, along with nearly 60 other nations, are engaged in a complex multi-pronged campaign to roll back the spreading menace of ISIS, and defeat the group’s ideology and influence across the Middle East and wider world.

Dr David Kilcullen has spent much of the past decade tracking the rise, demise, and resurgence of ISIS and other groups fighting in Iraq and Syria. His best-selling June 2015 Quarterly Essay unravelled the complexities and motivations of ISIS. Now his new book, Blood Year: Islamic State and the Failures of the War on Terror (Black Inc, 2016), takes you into the heart of the struggle for control of the Middle East.

The US Studies Centre hosted the Sydney launch of Dr David Kilcullen’s Blood Year.

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Understanding ISIS: A conversation with military strategist Dr David Kilcullen