Gargoyle: Reporting from Frontlines, Jail Cells, and Trap Houses

by Jake Hanrahan

Gargoyle is a compilation of written work by British journalist Jake Hanrahan, collecting his on-the-ground reporting from all the wrong crowds.

In this book, he visits hidden places and speaks to tough people - from the militant hideouts in Kurdistan, to the secret safehouses of dark web drug dealers.

Hanrahan has a particular knack for discovering, and gaining access to, the dark underbellies of the modern era. Gargoyle is his firsthand documentation of these dangerous and often bizarre journeys.

Genres: Nonfiction, Journalism, War

Audible Audio

Published July 22, 2021

Reviews

[Max Berendsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quick read, but nonetheless Jake Hanrahan succeeds to provide you with an adventure. Or rather a series of adventures. In a few intriguing articles, Jake Hanrahan takes the reader with him on journeys to paranoidly secured trap houses, Turkish detention centres (where he narrowly avoids getting beheaded), 3D-printed gun manufacturers, etc.

It's conflict reporting and research journalism as it should be properly done, which makes Gargoyle a real delight to read. It's just too bad that I was done reading so quickly.

I would recommend to Gargoyle to anyone interested in conflict reporting and original forms of journalism. In case you have further interest in Jake Hanrahan and his work you should check out Popular Front on Instagram and Youtube.

[Scott Carlson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent look at on the ground conflicts and underground operations. While entertaining, the book largely reinforces the ideological outlook of the ruling class- which is to be expected from an anarchist writer with bylines in the Guardian and other mainstream publications.

I suggest reading it for pleasure and not to inform your geopolitical outlook, as you will soon find yourself a talking head on CNN or Fox otherwise ;-)

[Max · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick and interesting read. Hanrahan isn't always the most compelling writer but he is obviously a dedicated reporter and his investigative work stands out on its own. The book had a few weird editing and formatting mistakes which I'm assuming are because it came out quite recently. I would recommend anyone who wants to read this to check out the author's podcast "Popular Front" if you haven't already, it's great.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice little read, Jake's style is basic, but that's his charm, it's almost conversational - there's a reason the Popular Front podcasts are so highly regarded.

I'd recommend this book as a good gift for anyone wanting to provide a gateway into 'personal' conflict journalism etc etc

[Isaiah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed the articles shared in here. Very interesting to read about people being behind the scenes in different places and learning about different organisations around the world from the inside.

[Nick LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hanrahan definitely knows how to pick compelling characters and situations to profile. All of these pieces are very short and read like the less than full length features that they almost certainly were in the original magazines/journals. I think this is a good way to compile work by someone like Hanrahan, it lets you see his varied interests and willingness to immerse himself in some dangerous and questionable situations. I have a feeling there may be a great feature or book in him somewhere or sometime but that remains to be seen.

It was an easy afternoon read that left me wanting more, but maybe that’s a good thing.

[EddieSchneggi · Rating 5 out of 5]

incredible

[Lorenzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Grazie NERO per averlo tradotto e pubblicato

[Riles Kiley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based

[Attila Kis-Csáji · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jake did a great job putting this book together, I recommend it to everyone interested in conflict journalism, international crime, war reports and extremist organizations.

[Tom J · Rating 4 out of 5]

hanrahans work is uniformly excellent, if also slightly
blunt and unadorned. the biggest issue i had with this is its brevity, it doesn’t crack 100 pages and each section has the strength to deserve a book. i was left wanting more, which i guess is a good thing

[giduso · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rassegna di articoli scritti dall'autore qualche anno fa. Alcuni un po' superati dagli eventi successivi, altri piú interessanti

[Luke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read this in a book mindset but instead it’s a load of snapshots of mostly horrible things one after the other without ever delving into them. Not the books fault it’s literally what it says on the tin, a collection of articles by Jake. Just a strange format that I think I wasn’t the biggest fan of! Some fantastic journalism nonetheless

[Clinamen · Rating 5 out of 5]

È un po' un peccato perché si riferisce ad eventi che erano già "datati" nel momento della sua pubblicazione.

In ogni caso questo libricino è una vera bomba cognitiva, un interessantissimo compendio di estratti di reportage diretti e crudi su criminalità del dark web, resistenza armata e libertà radicale.

[Beato · Rating 4 out of 5]

It feels more like reading a journal or a blog than a bunch of newspaper articles but that is not a bad thing. Easy reading that offers you a lot of threads to get into some pretty deep (and dark) rabbit holes.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of raw reporting offering an interesting and uncommon glimpse into a variety of conflict zones and underground activity.

[Jake Ivill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Support your mates.

[Rafael Cejas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good journalism

[Sarah Radovick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent

Jake is one of the best independent conflict journalists working today. Definitely worth supporting. Diverse topics take you on a spin through the darker side of reality.

[Randy Cherland · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great small read of articles the author wrote originally and edited back to their original form with some updates!

[Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting assortment of firsthand accounts by independent journalist Jake Hanrahan. Very quick read concerning topics, groups, and locations I haven’t thought much of in the past.

[Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great independent journalism

[Theroadtosedition · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The articles themselves are good but they’re far too short (the book is barely 85 pages) and simple grammatical errors abound. Jake, holler and I’ll edit the next one for free.

[Donovan · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of the best journalists out there

[Andre Calais · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jake is a very down to earth guy with crazy life experiences.

[Antonello · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sicuramente un libro che mi ha fatto capire in che mondo di merda io viva, ma soprattutto di quanto fortunato io sia di potermi annoiare, leggere, rilfettere se agire o meno, schierarmi o meno quando in altri posti è veramente questione di vita o morte.

Mi ha fatto capire l‘importanza del gruppo e di sentirsi parte, di difendere la propria patria e gente, cosa che non ho davvero mai sentito il bisogno di sentire e fare.
Di ragazzi che pur di vivere una noiosa vita occidentale tentanto di darci un senso schierandosi contro l‘ISIS schierandosi a fianco ad esercizi più o meno professionali. Ragazzini che giocano a guardia e ladri, lanciandosi molotov con veri agenti che non esiterebbero un secondo a sparare colpi ad altezza uomo.

“Non sono legato a nulla. È come vivere vicino a una faglia - se senti un rumore, prendi le tue cose e scappi. Non devi abituarti troppo alle cose. Posso dormire come un bambino in un letto da campo.”
Non mi sono mai sentito così ben rappresentato nella mia condizione esistenziale dalle parole di un trafficante d’arte ricercato da Interpol e criminali.

Un libro cazzuto, nel vero senso della parole, che ti mette davanti alla crudeltà del mondo e della vita senza troppi filtri e spettacolarizzazioni. Prenditi questo cazzotto e accusa stronzo. Mi sono sentito dire dallo scrittore mentre mi accompagnava attraverso i suoi racconti che sarebbero potuti essere scritti in maniera molto più melensa e strappalacrime.

[Sara Serrao · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good tool (and context) to ponder the ethics of illegality. Plus, the author’s bio makes you want to leave your house, go out there, live life, experience all of it(s ugliness).

It’s a collection of the author’s (journalist’s) articles, so the chapters only share a general theme of interest, not more. And, of course, the stories don’t go into too much detail they do seem to be written from a relatively objective POV though).

I just say though that the order of the articles seems a bit random, since it is obvious reading the book that there is a more logical way to dispose them.

[Alessandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Molto interessante, anche se concordo con altri recensori che hanno scritto che alcuni articoli sono molto più stimolanti rispetto ad alcuni molto stitici (molto superficiali, episodici). Il migliore probabilmente è quello dedicato alla storia del Atomwaffen Division; da segnalare quello sulla community nata attorno alla figura di Unabomber. Si legge di un fiato il libro!

[Irene · Rating 3 out of 5]

Raccolta di reportage e interviste che un giovane giornalista ha prodotto affrontando contesti brutali per arrivare alle parole di prima mano di chi li abita.
Interessanti, alcuni toccanti, vari gli argomenti, alcuni effettivamente non descrivono situazioni attuali (risalgono a non più di 10 anni fa). Nel complesso una lettura scorrevole e arricchente.

[Guido Guarino · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rassegna di articoli dello scrittore. Alcuni più interessanti di altri che sembrano essere stati scelti solo per questioni di lunghezza. Inoltre avrei preferito
un sistemazione degli articoli più logica invece di essere inserti a caso.