The Future of Terrorism includes a well-researched and comprehensive history of terrorism from antiquity through 2017. Its section on terrorism’s future is more divisive based as it is on the current political climate in the United States.
The book has three parts: terrorism in history, modern terrorism and the future of terrorism. It is interesting to learn that terrorism has been around forever.
“Terrorism is not only a product of bad governance but also a manifestation of youthful idealism.”
Obviously, both bad goverance and youthful idealism are not a new phenomenon.
Why is terrorism’s history relevant? Because the Islamic State (aka ISIS) is a “hodgepodge of the best approaches from the history of terrorism.” Modern digital life has changed the way terrorist organizations recruit (through the web) and frighten the populace (YouTube beheadings). However, the goals and results remain the same then and now—overthrow and recreate a society more fair (at least to the groups to which the terrorists belong).
The Future of Terrorism is recommended to any reader interested in how insurrection has changed society from the French and Russian Revolutions to the modern middle east. However, Trump supporters will not appreciate the linking of him to alt-right terrorism and conspiracy theories even as left-leaning readers will be saying “duh” to something so obvious.
The book uses statistics to prove that the threat of terrorism is less than the threat of gun violence—at least in the United States. However, the preeminent threat is the overreaction to terrorism that threatens our nation’s freedoms and our mandate to accept the tired, hungry and huddled masses yearning to be free.
While the writing style of the Future of Terrorism is academic (think of a 1950s college history textbook), the information is valuable. 3 stars!
Thanks to the publisher, Thomas Dunne Books, and NetGalley for an advanced copy.