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Fighting Evil: The Ordinary Man who went to War Against ISIS
A visceral, riveting, no-holds-barred military memoir told from the front line of the war against ISIS with a foreword by Andy McNab.
In the summer of 2014 the world watched in horror as the black flag of ISIS swept all before it. Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq fell, ISIS proclaimed the caliphate and the horror from the mass murder, rape and enslavement of the Yazidis to the public beheading of journalists by British jihadis. For Macer Gifford it wasn't enough to ask why more wasn't being done, he knew he had to act. So, he left his job in the city, split from his girlfriend and a few weeks later found himself illegally crossing the border into Syria to join the Kurdish YPG in their fight against the savagery of ISIS.
Macer Gifford became one of longest serving British International Volunteers and one of the only few to be promoted to be a Commander in the YPG. He fought alongside the Kurds (and their Syrian Allies) for three long tours of duty from the dawn of the caliphate all the way to its military defeat in the ruins of Raqqa in 2017, sniping at the final deadly wave of suicide bombers as they burst from the rubble. Along the way, he made - and lost - many friends.
This is the only complete account of the war against the Caliphate by the Kurds and the remarkable and often eccentric band of international volunteers who fought alongside them.
In the summer of 2014 the world watched in horror as the black flag of ISIS swept all before it. Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq fell, ISIS proclaimed the caliphate and the horror from the mass murder, rape and enslavement of the Yazidis to the public beheading of journalists by British jihadis. For Macer Gifford it wasn't enough to ask why more wasn't being done, he knew he had to act. So, he left his job in the city, split from his girlfriend and a few weeks later found himself illegally crossing the border into Syria to join the Kurdish YPG in their fight against the savagery of ISIS.
Macer Gifford became one of longest serving British International Volunteers and one of the only few to be promoted to be a Commander in the YPG. He fought alongside the Kurds (and their Syrian Allies) for three long tours of duty from the dawn of the caliphate all the way to its military defeat in the ruins of Raqqa in 2017, sniping at the final deadly wave of suicide bombers as they burst from the rubble. Along the way, he made - and lost - many friends.
This is the only complete account of the war against the Caliphate by the Kurds and the remarkable and often eccentric band of international volunteers who fought alongside them.
288 pages, Paperback
Published December 29, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
June 9, 2020
A fantastic glimpse into the life of an ordinary man who went to fight ISIS, its a graphic portrayal of the hardships the brave Kurds went through....... Highly recommended.
May 22, 2021
I feel a bit mean giving this only three stars. If I could I would give it three and a half. I'm assessing the book though, not the author as a person, and in assessing the book I'm also assessing the competence of its editors; infelicities of grammar and punctuation that grate on me are part of the reason I was reluctant to give it a higher rating. That said, I am probably exceptionally exacting on that front.
The only other negative thing about the book worth mentioning is its lack of flow. It is by and large a blow-by-blow, chronological account and so it doesn't have the hooks that good fiction has to keep one's interest from flagging; like real life in general has no predictable trajectory.
Nevertheless I strongly recommend it as a quite well-told, forthright, few-holds-barred insight into contemporary armed conflict and war in general from the perspective of one who has perhaps the most to lose—a combatant at the coal face (if you'll pardon the ill-fitting metaphor).
July 16, 2020
3.5*
A brutal first-hand account of one man's incredible journeys to help the Kurds defeat ISIS. Reading this in the aftermath of Trump's dereliction of duty is particularly dispiriting. One feels that without American support, everything Gifford, the Kurds, and the other international volunteers fought for will never come to fruition, especially with a militant Turkey -- a NATO "ally", let us not forget -- bullying their way into the region.
This book offers anyone with the ability to stomach it an unashamed look at the bloody reality of urban guerrilla warfare against a merciless enemy, the incarnate of evil
A brutal first-hand account of one man's incredible journeys to help the Kurds defeat ISIS. Reading this in the aftermath of Trump's dereliction of duty is particularly dispiriting. One feels that without American support, everything Gifford, the Kurds, and the other international volunteers fought for will never come to fruition, especially with a militant Turkey -- a NATO "ally", let us not forget -- bullying their way into the region.
This book offers anyone with the ability to stomach it an unashamed look at the bloody reality of urban guerrilla warfare against a merciless enemy, the incarnate of evil
August 29, 2020
Written under his western ‘non de guerre’, this is Macer Gifford’s biography of how an intelligent “public-school-educated” young man from a middle class family, working in the City as a forex trader, decided to spend three years embedded as an international volunteer amongst the Kurdish Peoples Protection Units (YPG) and Christian Syriac units fighting ISIS. Gifford’s account takes us all the way up to the deadly fighting to recapture Raqqa and the surrender of ISIS.
It is a vivid story (for those of us who did not have Gifford’s conviction “to do something about it”) of the terrifying street-by-street guerrilla-style fighting that had to be done on the ground to push back the stain of ISIS, while allied forces (eventually) provided sporadic air cover. In many ways, it is another graphic reminder of the physical and mental destruction caused by all wars, the friendships formed only to see them die, the element of luck and split-second decision that make the difference between living and dying, and the corrosive effects of PTSD on those unable to readjust to ‘normal life’ (in some cases no more able to do so than before they left for the war one), while for others combat injects an immediacy of meaning that gives weight to each day spent alive thereafter.
It is a vivid story (for those of us who did not have Gifford’s conviction “to do something about it”) of the terrifying street-by-street guerrilla-style fighting that had to be done on the ground to push back the stain of ISIS, while allied forces (eventually) provided sporadic air cover. In many ways, it is another graphic reminder of the physical and mental destruction caused by all wars, the friendships formed only to see them die, the element of luck and split-second decision that make the difference between living and dying, and the corrosive effects of PTSD on those unable to readjust to ‘normal life’ (in some cases no more able to do so than before they left for the war one), while for others combat injects an immediacy of meaning that gives weight to each day spent alive thereafter.
July 10, 2020
A most inspiring account of the end of Isis and those who gave up their lives to help a beleaguered nation to overcome evil, world threatening regime.
I so admired the integrity and selflessness of all those truly good people who cared about the plight of other members of the human race and who were prepared to give up their own lives to protect them from a truly evil regime. How many of us would ever have had the courage or the empathy to do that.
I so admired the integrity and selflessness of all those truly good people who cared about the plight of other members of the human race and who were prepared to give up their own lives to protect them from a truly evil regime. How many of us would ever have had the courage or the empathy to do that.
August 13, 2020
Brilliant read
Very insightful and educational read. Very brave sad and heroic account about an ordinary person that has hopefully made and continues to make a huge change in this world.
Very insightful and educational read. Very brave sad and heroic account about an ordinary person that has hopefully made and continues to make a huge change in this world.
January 7, 2024
Without knowing what to expect, but inspired by what I had briefly learned about the writer and the purpose of his life choices, driven by idealism and fighting injustice, I started reading this book with great interest, and to be honest, for some research of my own. From the first few pages, you are immediately drawn into the story and the writer’s real-life experiences, after which an introduction that describes the reasons, and the way he reaches the front line in Syria, to fight ISIS. What strikes me is the world-building, reporting of locations and timelines, combined with the writing skills to, for example, depict a combat situation in which, despite everything that was happening around him, he still managed to have such an eye for detail, and more importantly, knows how to describe it to make it understandable for the reader. In my opinion, writing this book has achieved its goal of making people aware of the situation the Kurds found themselves in at that time, in their fight against IS, and has also given an incredibly good picture of both their courage, and the courage of the Foreign Volunteers, who indeed deserve a special place in the history of this battle as well. In my opinion, this story could also be used for educational purposes, as there is no better representation of what a battle zone looks like when it is described by a soldier. With all the fighting spirit, all the good intentions, all losses, and all victories. The camaraderie and friendships that arise in a war situation are incredibly strong and well depicted, which often makes the losses an emotional rollercoaster, but the importance of storytelling in this way, is invaluable for both the reader and, I hope, the writer as well. A must-read for geopolitical purposes as well, especially with the evolving situation in the Middle East at the moment of writing this review.
June 5, 2023
I started reading this book after following the author on Twitter. He is fighting in Ukraine and for that alone I want to thank him. So now you know this book was written by a man who didn't stop with Syria but continues to fight for those who need help.
This book will be an interesting experience because unlike fiction stories the protagonist in this one was not a military man. The story starts with a person like any other who was living a normal life with job searches, searches for love and like all of us searching for meaning.
When he makes the decision to go he doesn't describe it as a moment when a hero is born, nor does he do that at any other point in the book. Yet what I still don't understand is where the bravery and determination come from. What was the motivation behind this choice? A commendable choice for sure, but incomprehensible to me.
The story tells you a lot about the conditions and the form of warfare that occurred in Syria. You get a sense of who ISIS is based on how they fight. You get to see who were the brave people fighting against them. If you want to read a book about camaraderie among people who barely have a common language then this is the book for you.
I loved reading about the moments of bravery and kindness, but most of all of the optimism that moved most of the people in this story. Not all of them lived to see the publishing of this book, but they all lived their life to the fullest even when life was not offering much in the way of a dream life.
I think reading about this war was helpful. Not only does it awaken a sense of gratitude, but also gives you a glimpse into a reality that no one should ever have to live through.
This book will be an interesting experience because unlike fiction stories the protagonist in this one was not a military man. The story starts with a person like any other who was living a normal life with job searches, searches for love and like all of us searching for meaning.
When he makes the decision to go he doesn't describe it as a moment when a hero is born, nor does he do that at any other point in the book. Yet what I still don't understand is where the bravery and determination come from. What was the motivation behind this choice? A commendable choice for sure, but incomprehensible to me.
The story tells you a lot about the conditions and the form of warfare that occurred in Syria. You get a sense of who ISIS is based on how they fight. You get to see who were the brave people fighting against them. If you want to read a book about camaraderie among people who barely have a common language then this is the book for you.
I loved reading about the moments of bravery and kindness, but most of all of the optimism that moved most of the people in this story. Not all of them lived to see the publishing of this book, but they all lived their life to the fullest even when life was not offering much in the way of a dream life.
I think reading about this war was helpful. Not only does it awaken a sense of gratitude, but also gives you a glimpse into a reality that no one should ever have to live through.
July 12, 2023
"For Rojava!"
I'll not lie
I'm an ordinary guy
But if push comes to shove
It's do or die
We've all got this natural instinct to do the right thing or what feels right in the heat of the moment. Whether we're in control of it, is another matter. but what Macer did was way beyond any natural instinct. Whatever convictions he had, he stayed true to them, right to the very end.
Andy McNab's Forward is very much spot on with regards to Macer's calling. Yet I can hardly wrap my mind around how someone with so much to live for would put their dreams on hold, so as to deal a blow thousands of miles away to those who would kill, torture and behead men, women and children.
The only analogy that springs to mind is when two opposites (of extremes) meet head on. Usually there's then one of two outcomes: One is either attracted to it or repelled by it. And yet Macer not only strove to repel it, he had to expunge its hatred from his psyche by fighting the evil that was and, still is ISIS on the ground knowing full well the consequences of doing so might have been disastrous for all concerned — but he went ahead and did it, anyway!
Whether his resolve was indeed based on a mixture of his family's military history, along with a once held view in wanting to join the British Army as a young lad — that, and his humanitarian aspirations, one can only wonder. But what we can be sure of is that this former foreign exchange trader's intentions were always of the noblest calibre.
If there's only one image that stays with me long after reading 'Fighting Evil', then it would be that of Shaheen, Kendal and Macer.
I'll not lie
I'm an ordinary guy
But if push comes to shove
It's do or die
We've all got this natural instinct to do the right thing or what feels right in the heat of the moment. Whether we're in control of it, is another matter. but what Macer did was way beyond any natural instinct. Whatever convictions he had, he stayed true to them, right to the very end.
Andy McNab's Forward is very much spot on with regards to Macer's calling. Yet I can hardly wrap my mind around how someone with so much to live for would put their dreams on hold, so as to deal a blow thousands of miles away to those who would kill, torture and behead men, women and children.
The only analogy that springs to mind is when two opposites (of extremes) meet head on. Usually there's then one of two outcomes: One is either attracted to it or repelled by it. And yet Macer not only strove to repel it, he had to expunge its hatred from his psyche by fighting the evil that was and, still is ISIS on the ground knowing full well the consequences of doing so might have been disastrous for all concerned — but he went ahead and did it, anyway!
Whether his resolve was indeed based on a mixture of his family's military history, along with a once held view in wanting to join the British Army as a young lad — that, and his humanitarian aspirations, one can only wonder. But what we can be sure of is that this former foreign exchange trader's intentions were always of the noblest calibre.
If there's only one image that stays with me long after reading 'Fighting Evil', then it would be that of Shaheen, Kendal and Macer.
January 6, 2025
This was nothing short of a great read. Highly recommended if you're after a book on war, particularly with international volunteer fighters. It's particularly poignant given the current ongoing war in Ukraine.
April 25, 2023
Very easy to read taking into account the hellish subject.
September 4, 2024
You need to read this book
June 17, 2025
A must-read for anyone who wants to know what it was like fighting evil opponents in Syria. Macer is now helping the Ukrainians I understand. Quite a man.
June 28, 2025
Interesting and face paced account of front line life fighting ISIS. Not wonderfully written but does the job.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews