Customer Reviews:
 Policy makers please read! January 7, 2007
Anthony Day (York, England)
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
As the author says, seeking to understand terrorists does not mean that we agree with them or support them in any way. But understanding their motives - and different terrorists are motivated in different ways - helps us defeat them. Military power can never destroy terrorism unless it is permitted to destroy democracy at the same time. The author's case studies from recent experience as well as from history show that terrorism is nothing new, and show that it can be overcome, usually by covert operations, by splitting factions and by weakening support within the community the terrorists claim to represent. A war on "terror" is not the solution because "terror" cannot be defined. Such a war can therefore never be won. And if politicians claim that it is a war, how can they reject the safeguards of the Geneva conventions and at the same time insist that they represent freedom. democracy and justice?
Essential reading for all policy-makers.
Vital for understanding the world yesterday, today and tomorrow August 25, 2007
L. Shannon (Finland)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you're like me, and you've spent the last five years or so asking, "Why??" every time you hear about yet another terrorist attack, this is the book for you. As an Irishwoman who toyed with the idea of joining the IRA in her youth, Louise Richardson is well-situated to understand that terrorists are not irrational sociopaths, but rational people with specific goals. I, like the author, believe that terrorism can never be ended unless the terrorists themselves and their motives are understood, and in this book I've finally found the analysis of terrorist actions and goals that I've been looking for in vain in news coverage and other writings.
The book first covers terrorism in general (which has belatedly helped me make sense of many of the terrorist organisations that have been active during my lifetime, such as Shining Path and ETA), then looks at America's current War on Terror and makes policy suggestions for how the West should be conducting itself in Iraq and Afghanistan to be most effective. This superb, intelligent, thoughtful, impartial analysis should be read by EVERYONE, from the man on the street to reporters on the ground to heads of state setting directions and policy, whether they're affected by terrorism now or not. A global understanding of the principles at work that make a person into a terrorist may not only help bring to an end to current bloodshed but may also prevent future terrorist movements from getting started in the first place.
Very useful study of how to cope with the terrorist threat April 18, 2008
William Podmore (London United Kingdom)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Louise Richardson, Executive Dean of Harvard University's Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, has been teaching courses on terrorism since the mid-1990s. In this comprehensive introduction, she firstly explains the nature of the terrorist threat and examines its context, causes and motivations. She then looks at how we can use this knowledge to counteract the threat. As she argues, to understand terrorism is not to sympathise with it; indeed we must understand it to forge effective counter-terrorism policies.
Terrorists, including suicide terrorists, seek revenge, renown and reaction. They are not insane, deranged or irrational. The decision to become a terrorist depends on a combination of factors, including personal disaffection, an enabling group, a supportive community and a legitimising ideology.
Terrorists do not need a state sponsor. Since a state sponsor does not cause terrorism, attacking a state does not end terrorism. So the attack on Afghanistan destroyed the Taliban state, but not Al Qa'ida. Similarly, the attack on Iraq is not destroying terrorism, nor would attacking Iran destroy it either.
The US state's declaration of a global war on terrorism after 9/11 was a mistake and is bound to fail. It has made the situation worse, generating more terrorists.
As Richardson shows, we cannot defeat terrorism just by trying to smash every terrorist movement. We should instead focus on the attainable goal of containing their recruitment and constraining the resort to terrorist tactics. Also, it is better tactics to underplay the threat rather than exaggerate it. So when Al Qa'ida lies that it has WMD to make itself seem more important, Blair and Bush were wrong to back their lie.
Terrorists cannot destroy democracy; only we can do that, by self-defeating actions like ending habeas corpus by interning suspects for ever longer periods. Introducing internment was the biggest miscalculation of the Northern Ireland conflict, prolonging it for decades.
Richardson notes that Marx, Engels and Lenin opposed terrorism. After the Clerkenwell bombing killed six people in 1867, Marx wrote, "One cannot expect London workers to allow themselves to be blown up in honour of Fenian emissaries." For decades, the British and US states have been building up fundamentalists to defeat secular nationalism. We should build up Marxism to help to contain terrorism.
Absolutely essential reading October 18, 2008
Rachel North (London)
I wish everyone involved in policy-making, crime/terrorism/security editorial would read this.
It is quite simply the most intelligent, sane, well-researched, accessible, thoughtful book on terrorism available.
And if more people read it, and took on board what it is saying, fewer people would be killed in terrorist attacks,
Liberty as well as life would be safer.
Because Louise Richardson is RIGHT.
 An eye-opener December 11, 2007
Mr X (London)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
When I initial began reading this book I had no idea what to expect. The author has direct knowledge of living in an area affected by terrorism and so is well suited to comment on the phenomenon.
I found her style of writing easy to read and informative. The best part of the book is the thrid section where she sets out why a "war on terror" is as unwinnable as a "war on evil". In fact when you think about it in those terms the concept of a "war on terror" seems absurd. And I am a big fan of the US but I can't help but thinking both the strategy and tactics need considerable rethinking if the US is to have a chance of combatting terrorism.
Overall a very interesting book and one to be recommended.
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