Another Side of Paris : Terrorist War in the City of Light
Peter Allen

When, on January 7^th 2015, heavily armed Islamist terrorists launched a murderous attack on the offices of Charlie Hebdo, the Paris-based satirical magazine, it was the beginning of three days of carnage around the French capital: a city traditionally associated with glamour, romance and beauty. Paramilitary police commandoes and Army units flooded historic boulevards and squares in the hunt for three ruthless attackers, before all were gunned down in bloody shoot-outs broadcast to a shocked world.

What was particularly disturbing about the attackers was that all were Parisians – ones born and raised in a Republic committed to Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité yet ultimately given free rein to turn the world’s most popular tourist city into a warzone. They were part of a new generation of home-grown Jihadis cultivating links with some of the most barbarous organisations in the world, including Islamic State and al-Qaeda.

Another Side of Paris will be the first detailed account of France’s worst terrorist atrocities this century, set in the context of the global war against lethal extremism.  Written by a Paris-based journalist who witnessed the horror at first hand, the book’s focus will primarily be a human one: a story of individuals sharing a city blighted by apartheid suburbs, a savage colonial history, an increasingly repressive establishment and – ultimately – a venomous enemy within.