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American Girls

One Woman's Journey into the Islamic State and Her Sister's Fight to Bring Her Home

About The Book

Named a Best Book of the Year by Elle

A CNN, NPR, and Today Most-Anticipated Book of 2024

A “gripping” (CNN), true account of religious extremism, radicalization, and the bonds of family: the story of an American woman who traveled to ISIS-controlled Syria with her two children and extremist husband and the sister back home who worked tirelessly to help her escape.

Raised in a restrictive Jehovah’s Witness community in Arkansas, sisters Lori and Sam Sally spent their teens and twenties moving around the South and Midwest, working low-wage jobs and falling in and out of relationships. Caught in an eternal sibling rivalry—where younger, quieter Lori protected outgoing, reckless Sam—the two women eventually married a pair of brothers and settled down in Elkhart, Indiana, just around the corner from each other. It was there that their lives, once mirrors of each other’s, dramatically diverged.

While Lori was ultimately able to leave her violent marriage, Sam was drawn deeper into hers—ensnared under the influence of a husband who slowly radicalized, via the internet, into a jihadist. With their daughter and Sam’s child from a previous relationship, the couple moved to Raqqa, Syria, where Moussa fought for ISIS and Sam, who never even converted to Islam, attempted to survive and protect her children from airstrikes, extremist indoctrination, and the brutality of ISIS. In Raqqa, Sam’s oldest son appeared in several Islamic State propaganda videos, and she participated in ISIS’s practice of enslaving Yezidi women and children. Sam says her husband coerced her to move, but Lori—who quit her job and worked nonstop to get Sam out of Syria—isn’t so sure.

American Girls combines an in-depth examination of Sam and Lori's lives with on-the-ground reporting from Iraq, providing a rare glimpse into the world of American women who join ISIS. Interweaving deeply reported narrative drama with expert analysis, the book explores how the subjugation and abuse experienced by women in the United States, women like Sam and Lori, are one in the same with the conditions that enable the rise of patriarchal, extremist ideologies like those espoused by ISIS.

Fascinating, “timely, and chilling” (Booklist), American Girls is an unforgettable journey—from small-town Arkansas to Raqqa, from domestic abuse to a militant terrorist organization—all told through the extraordinary story of two close, complicated sisters.

Reading Group Guide

This reading group guide for American Girls includes an introduction, discussion questions, and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Introduction

Raised in a restrictive Jehovah’s Witness community, sisters Samantha and Lori Sally suffered shared trauma in childhood, leading to early adulthoods spent drifting in and out of bad jobs and abusive relationships. When they were in their twenties, their fates diverged dramatically: Lori left her violent husband and began to rebuild her life, while Sam moved with her radicalized husband and their two children to Raqqa, Syria, to join the Islamic State (ISIS). Through a deep analysis of religious extremism, radicalization, and the complicated bonds of sisterhood, American Girls tells the story of these two women, following Sam’s journey into the Islamic State and Lori’s tireless efforts to bring her home.

Topics & Questions for Discussion

1. Consider the two questions at the end of the prologue: “Could it have happened to Lori? Could it have happened to anyone?” (3). Why did Sam and Lori’s experiences, which for most of their lives had followed parallel tracks, suddenly take such different paths?

2. Lori blames much of what happened to her and Sam on their upbringing as Jehovah’s Witnesses. How did their religious childhood shape their behavior and their understanding of themselves in their youth? How did it continue to affect their lives as adults, even after they left the community?

3. Discuss the research presented in the book about Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), much of which was not widely known when Sam and Lori were young (17). How did these traumas—and others they suffered as teens—influence their future relationships with men?

4. Roy writes, “[Sam] had always felt like her sister was unnecessarily suspicious and critical of new people; every person Lori met was put through an emotional gauntlet to earn her trust. Sam preferred the opposite approach: Trust until the person gives you a reason not to” (80). Are you more like Lori or Sam when it comes to trusting new people? Why?

5. Lori made a distinction between “religiously conservative” and “culturally conservative” after noticing a shift in her husband Yassine’s behavior (90). In what ways does this distinction speak to larger trends in American culture and politics? How does Yassine’s relationship to Islam and conservatism differ from Hariss’s, whom Lori met a few years later (in chapter five, page 133)?

6. Discuss the role of social media and algorithms in radicalization. How much responsibility should social media companies take for what happens on their platforms?

7. Put yourself in Lori’s shoes and imagine that someone close to you has sent you an email similar to the one that Sam sent to Lori from Syria. How would you feel? What actions do you think you would take?

8. Discuss the questions Roy poses in chapter fourteen: “What does justice look like for a criminal who is also a victim? How can Samantha Sally make things right with society, and how can society make things right with Samantha Sally?” (294).

9. Consider the experiences and fates of the children in American Girls, particularly Sam’s kids. How do you think she and Lori feel about Nadia, Ilyas, and Aisha being raised as Jehovah’s Witnesses by their grandparents?

10. Though Sam was charged for her role in financing terrorism, Roy notes that she “may never, and probably won’t, be held legally responsible for what she did when living under ISIS” (298). Do you agree? How do you feel about Sam’s conviction? Discuss this, and Sam’s sentencing, with your group.

11. Discuss Lori and Sam’s complicated relationship, and the various ways they support and betray each other throughout their lives. Roy writes, “At some point everybody needs someone, [Lori] thinks, no matter what they’ve done. And even after everything, she doesn’t mind being Sam’s someone” (300). Do you think you would feel this way about a family member who had hurt you as much as Sam hurt Lori, or who had made such grave mistakes?

Enhance Your Book Club

1. Watch the 2020 Frontline PBS documentary “Return From ISIS,” which features the Sally sisters. How does the documentary illuminate your reading experience?

2. Read some of Jessica Roy’s recent articles. Visit her website (jessicakroy.com) or MuckRack profile (muckrack.com/jessicakroy) to find links to clips.

3. Have each member of your book group pull up their Facebook homepage and call out the ads and articles that appear in their feed. How similar or different are your feeds? Why do you think the algorithm shows you what it does?

4. Search online for Samantha Elhassani. Has there been any recent news about her case or release since the publication of American Girls?

About The Author

Photograph by Victoria Stevens

Jessica Roy is a journalist and editor who splits her time between Paris and the United States. Previously, she served as the Digital Director of Elle magazine, where she oversaw content and strategy for the website. Jessica has also worked as a writer and editor at The Cut, Time, and The New York Observer, and is an adjunct professor at New York University, where she teaches writing and editing for digital platforms.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Scribner (January 16, 2024)
  • Length: 352 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781982151331

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Raves and Reviews

Named a Best Book of the Year by ELLE
A CNN, NPR, and Today Show Most-Anticipated Book of 2024

“[American Girls] uses incisive, on-the-ground reporting to explore how, even through experiences with abusive partners, poverty, and religious extremism, it’s the bond of sisterhood that is perhaps most complicated of all.” —Elle Magazine

"A gripping read." —CNN Entertaiment

"The narrative at the heart of Jessica Roy’s American Girls is so remarkable it could have been scripted for Hollywood…[Roy] leans into the inherent drama of her tale, crafting American Girls as a stranger-than-fiction thriller." —New York Times Book Review

"Journalist Jessica Roy pulls us into a complicated and ultimately inspiring story about abuse, radicalization, and sisterhood… Thoughtful and poignant, American Girls ponders the effects of violence and extremism – in all its shapes, forms, and origins." —Apple Books

American Girls provides a rare look inside ISIS, which remains one of the most mysterious—and misunderstood—extremist ideologies of the early 21st century."
—NY Post

"A true and wrenching story of two sisters from Arkansas that pairs thought-provoking commentary with the drama and suspense of a novel.”
—Town & Country

"It’s hard to recall a more compelling modern depiction of how sisterhood functions as a magnet, causing two lives to attract and then repel one another again and again and again."
—Katie Couric Media

“Roy’s diligent research chronicles the rise of ISIS, Lori’s efforts to retrieve Sam from Syria, and Sam’s enigmatic narrative, portraying Sam as both victim and perpetrator of transgression – to what degree, Roy leaves to the reader. Timely and chilling.”
—Booklist

“Roy’s nuanced debut turns a psychological lens on convicted Islamic State supporter Samantha Sally and her sister, Lori....This is a thoughtful reframing of a sensational case.”
—Publishers Weekly

"The details are shocking, but Roy provides a chilling reminder that this could happen to anyone."
—Kirkus

"Jessica Roy is at the height of her powers. A masterful storyteller and meticulous reporter, she applies her disciplinary expertise and deep well of empathy to the Sally sisters, and the result is a book that will first grip you and then change you."
—Olivia Nuzzi, Washington correspondent for New York magazine

American Girls is a riveting family love story: aching to find each other and a stable home, two traumatized sisters vault first into the arms of terrible men and from there into ISIS and existential, worldwide conflict. Lori and Sam are still lingering in my mind—and even more so, the larger context Roy has revealed with their story: the straight line between relationship violence and global terrorism; the riptide of trauma that has tugged the line of history so far out to sea. This book might read like a novel, but in reality it’s a true, game-changing contribution to 21st century political analysis.”
—Taylor Lorenz, author of Extremely Online

"As brilliantly told by Jessica Roy, the story of Samantha Sally and her sister Lori is as dramatic as a Hollywood script. But at its heart, this is a moving and universal portrait of sibling rivalry and sibling loyalty that will resonate with every reader."
—Nina Garcia, Editor-in-Chief, ELLE

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