Product Description

A study of terrorist activity. It charts the history of political terror from 19th-century Europe, through the anarchists of the 1880s and 1890s, the left- and right-wing clashes during the 20th century, and the multinational operations of Arab and other groups today.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #669701 in Books
• Published on: 2001-03-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 285 pages

Customer Reviews

An interesting holistic examination of terrorism
This book was first published in 1977, and has been republished with no apparent updating. The first chapter is a very short history of terrorism (19 pages). Chapter two looks at the history of the philosophy of terrorism, discussing terrorists from around the globe, through World War 2. Chapter 3 discusses the sociology of terrorism, examining the "who" and the "how." The fourth chapter focuses on the interpretations of terrorism, that is how terrorism is seen and understood, both in non-fiction (political science for the most part) and in fiction.

I found this book to be a real mixed bag. Overall the author takes a holistic approach, which gave me the feeling that I now understand terrorism more deeply. Unfortunately, this approach also means that I do not feel like I learned much about the evolution of terrorism. The author moves from terrorist group to terrorist group often without giving any idea of the group's context. Therefore, while this is a fascinating book, I do not consider it a good history of terrorism-it's an examination of the forest that misses the trees.

So, overall, I give this book a highly qualified recommendation.