A landmark study of the rise of Islamic extremism, Jihad follows the history and spread of this new political-religious phenomenon from its beginnings as a militant rebellion in the Middle East during the 1970s to its culmination in a devastating onslaught on the West in 2001. Gilles Kepel explains how their jihad - or 'Holy Struggle' - aimed to establish a global Islamic state based solely on a strict interpretation of the Qur'an clashes with the values of Western democracies. Kepel's exploration of Jihadism is informed by his journeys throughout the Muslim world to gather documents, interviews and archival material inaccessible to most scholars.