The History of Terrorism – From Antiquity to al Qaeda - Softcover

Chaliand, Gerard; Blin, Arnaud

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520247094 ISBN 13: 9780520247093

Publisher: University of California Press, 2007

Synopsis

This authoritative work provides an essential perspective on terrorism by offering a rare opportunity for analysis and reflection at a time of ongoing violence, chilling threats, and renewed reprisals. In it, some of the best international specialists working on the subject today examine terrorism's long and complex history from antiquity to the present day and find that terror, long the weapon of the weak against the strong, is a tactic as old as warfare itself. Beginning with the Zealots of Antiquity, the contributors discuss the Assassins of the Middle Ages, the 1789 Terror movement in Europe, Bolshevik terrorism during the Russian Revolution, Stalinism, "resistance" terrorism during World War II, and Latin American revolutionary movements of the late 1960s. Finally, they consider the emergence of modern transnational terrorism, focusing on the roots of Islamic terrorism, al Qaeda, and the rise of the contemporary suicide martyr. Along the way, they provide a groundbreaking analysis of how terrorism has been perceived throughout history. What becomes powerfully clear is that only through deeper understanding can we fully grasp the present dangers of a phenomenon whose repercussions are far from over.

Includes essays by François Géré, Rohan Gunaratna, Olivier Hubac-Occhipinti, Ariel Merari, Philippe Migaux, Yves Ternon

About this title

Review:

"the work provides the reader with an excellent historical survey of terrorist movements and is a solid point of reference for the origins of 21st-century terrorism. . . Summing Up: Highly Recommended." * CHOICE *

About the Author:

Gerard Chaliand is an independent scholar who has held visiting professorships at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Harvard University. He is the author of more than thirty-five works including The Art of War in History and Guerilla Strategies (both UC Press). Arnaud Blin is senior fellow at the French Institute for Strategic Analysis. He is coauthor, with Gerard Chaliand, of the Dictionnaire de strategie militaire and America is Bac: Les nouveaux cesars du pentagone, and, with Francoise Gere, of Puissances et influences: annuaire geopolitic et geostategique.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0520247094
• ISBN 13: 9780520247093
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 484