Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction: Two presents -- A new age of private violence -- The triumph of the individual -- Making the Umma great again -- The democratic foil -- Means without ends -- At history's end -- Conclusion: Two futures.

"Historian Suzanne Schneider examines the politics and ideology of the Islamic State (better known as ISIS). Schneider argues that today's jihad is not the residue from a less enlightened time, nor does it have much in common with its classical or medieval form, but it does bear a striking resemblance to the reactionary political formations and acts of spectacular violence that are upending life in Western democracies"--