The highest-ranking American in the Islamic State is a 33-year-old convert from Plano, Texas, named John Georgelas. He is the youngest in a dynasty of Greek-American military officers -- his grandfather was a U.S. Army colonel, his father a U.S. Air Force colonel -- and John has been wounded in action in Syria as a soldier of the Islamic State.
Georgelas's story -- including the story of the dramatic escape of his British Bengali wife and four children -- is told exclusively in
The Way of the Strangers.
The current issue of
The Atlantic has published an
excerpt from my book, detailing Georgelas's life and development. Watch this space, where I'll post more photographs of John, as well as excerpts from his writing and new clues about his current activities.
