Product Description

This book charts a path through the outpouring of efforts to understand and explain modern terrorism, by asking what makes terrorism different from other forms of political, military action; what makes it effective; and what can be done about it. It unravels complex central questions such as whether terrorists are criminals, whether terrorism is a kind of war, what kind of threat terrorism represents, how far media publicity sustains terrorism, and whether democracy is especially vulnerable to terrorist attack. It examines the historical ideological and local roots of terrorist violence, and the success of specific terrorist and anti-terrorist campaigns in the more distant as well as the recent past.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #139976 in Books
• Published on: 2002-10-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 168 pages

The Independent on Sunday
"Like the other excellent books in this series, this is rigorous and compelling [...] balanced and sensible"

Review
'Like the other excellent books in this series, this is rigorous and compelling [...] balanced and sensible' (The Independent on Sunday )

About the Author
Charles Townshend is Professor of International History at Keele University. He has held fellowships at the National Humanities Centre and the Woodrow Wilson International Centre He is the author of The British Campaign in Ireland 1919-1921 (1975), Political Violence in Ireland (1983), Britain's Civil Wars: Counterinsurgency in the Twentieth Century (1986), Making the Peace: Public Order and Public Security in Modern Britain (1993), and
Ireland: The Twentieth Century (1999).

Customer Reviews

A Breath of Fresh Air: lucid and balanced.
Far better than most full-length books and collections on the subject of terrorism, this at once thoughtful and accessible slim volume does precisely what anyone thirsting for a basic grip on the subject would hope to find: from questions of what bthe label 'terrorism' actually means, to an exploration of the various kinds of actions and programmes that have been described as 'terrorism', and the question of responses - including the issue of possible tensions between counter-terrorism and democracy. Townshend addresses all this in in a scrupulously balanced way, and in a language that avoids jargon but does not 'talk down'. For those left wanting to explore further, a very good annotated 'further reading' section concludes the book. In sum, like so many of these Oxford 'Very Short Introductions': excellent.

Dr Gerd Nonneman
Lancaster University

To make you think......
"Terrorism" - "terror" carried out by small groups - started, arguably, in the nineteenth century, in response to the terror perpetrated by states. Given the horrific acts carried out by states in the twentieth century it is not surprising that terrorism has also developed.

This short book reviews the history of terrorism and the different forms it has taken especially since the second world war.

It's detached and informative, a welcome antidote to the knee-jerk reactions of governments and press, and a chance to bring some perspective to what is going on in the world today. But it is short; it'll leave you wanting more - it is the role of Short Introductions to whet the appetitite.

To make you think......
"Terrorism" - "terror" carried out by small groups - started, arguably, in the nineteenth century, in response to the terror perpetrated by states. Given the horrific acts carried out by states in the twentieth century it is not surprising that terrorism has also developed.

This short book reviews the history of terrorism and the different forms it has taken especially since the second world war.

It's detached and informative, a welcome antidote to the knee-jerk reactions of governments and press, and a chance to bring some perspective to what is going on in the world today. But it is short; it'll leave you wanting more - it is the role of Short Introductions to whet the appetitite.