The Jackal: The Rise and Fall of Carlos, the World's First Super-terrorist - Hardcover

Warrick, Joby

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1668070553 ISBN 13: 9781668070550

Publisher: Scribner, 2026

Synopsis

The spectacular rise and dramatic fall of super-assassin Carlos the Jackal—one of history’s most infamous terrorist masterminds—told with new revelations from the Jackal himself, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Black Flags.

A black-bereted, gun-slinging avatar of one of the most turbulent eras in global politics, Carlos the Jackal burst onto the world stage in 1975 as the first true celebrity terrorist and the TV-ready face of a violent Palestinian resistance movement that was then just beginning to gain traction. In a bloody career that would ultimately span three decades, Carlos innovated a new kind of spectacular terrorism, one that embraced hijackings, hostage crises, airport bombings, and international assassinations. And he personally masterminded one of the most shocking operations of the era: the kidnapping of an entire conference of world oil ministers for ransom in Vienna. The polar opposite of today’s most infamous terrorists, Carlos was a hard-drinking libertine and self-styled romantic who entranced dozens of beautiful women and murdered his victims with callous disregard, often with his own hand.

But Carlos was not all that he seemed to be.

Through newly declassified archives, secret witness accounts, and a rare interview with the Jackal himself, acclaimed journalist Joby Warrick reveals a previously hidden side of the man born Ilich Ramírez Sánchez—an ideologically driven figure whose myth was as carefully constructed as his attacks were deadly.

As he did in his Pulitzer Prize–winning Black Flags, Warrick delivers a powerful and highly cinematic tale that explains and illuminates the root causes, and founding personalities, behind one of the great conflicts of our time.

About this title

About the Author

Joby Warrick is a bestselling author, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, and national security correspondent for The Washington Post, where he has served for almost three decades. He has written extensively on topics ranging from Middle East conflicts and terrorism to nuclear proliferation and climate change. Warrick is the author of three previous works of narrative nonfiction, including the 2016 Pulitzer Prize winner Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS. A native of North Carolina, he has two adult children and lives in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC.

Edition details

• Publisher: Scribner
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1668070553
• ISBN 13: 9781668070550
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 352