From 2001 until today, Patrick Cockburn’s coverage of the conflicts in the Middle East and other regions has been outstanding. His chronicles make use of his extensive direct experience and in-depth knowledge of the region’s history to offer fine-tuned analysis in the midst of very complex crises. For instance, he upheld that the Western invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq would be unsustainable and that it was very likely that the Libyan rebels would end up facing off against each other. Perhaps what is most surprising is that he reported on the advent of ISIS as the main force in the region even before the British government’s intelligence services were aware of the threat it represented. This led the jury of the British Journalism Awards to ask itself “whether the authorities should study the possibility of sending the MI6 as a whole into retirement and hiring Patrick Cockburn to replace them.” Written in the form of a fascinating diary, this book combines a careful selection of Cockburn’s writings from the war fronts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria.