Inside Terrorism - Tapa dura

"Bruce Hoffman's book is the best work to summarize in a generally understandable and concise form all the significant facts about terrorism in the last decade. It is especially interesting regarding the strange relationship between terrorism and the media, and can be warmly recommended as an absolutely reliable guide." -- Walter Laqueur "Gripping -- and alarming." -- "The Economist" "If you have time to read only one book, this should be the one." -- "Atlanta Journal Constitution" "Bruce Hoffman's "Inside Terrorism" is still probably the best general treatment of terrorism." -- "Washington Post" "Hoffman's strength lies in the building up of case-studies in an historical context to illustrate the dimensions of this amorphous phenomenon." -- "International Affairs" "Writing with a wonderful clarity, Hoffman... identifies the characteristics that make terrorism the distinct phenomenon of political violence that it is." -- "London Financial Times" "The author has succeeded brilliantly. His predictions for the future are hardly comforting, but they should be heeded by all governments with an interest in world peace." -- "The Sunday Telegraph" "[An] impressive reconnaissance over the battlefields of the world.... A fascinating survey of the recent history of international terrorism and all its well-documented horrors." -- "Times Literary Supplement" "For its historical and political examination of terrorism, "Inside Terrorism" is a valuable work.... Falls into the category of 'must read, ' at least for anyone who wants to understand how we can respond to international acts of terror." -- Raymond Bonner, "New York Times Book Review" "A must read to all academics or practitioners who are dealing with the issue of terrorism."

Are religious terrorist groups more likely than secular groups to use weapons of mass destruction? How do the media at once promote and combat terrorist attacks? How has terrorism evolved into a multimillion-dollar operation in the Middle East? Bruce Hoffman addresses these questions as he describes the changing face of terrorism, probing the new adversaries, new motivations, and new methods that have surfaced in recent years to challenge many of our most fundamental assumptions about terrorists and how they operate. Hoffman dissects terrorism past and present, charting its evolution and predicting where it might be headed in the next century. These fringe groups are built upon - and react to - a sense of isolation, and are more likely to use weapons of mass destruction than the nationalist terrorist groups with which we are familiar. Hoffman also considers the issue of media coverage and how it relates to political power. Although the media provide a platform for terrorist agendas, terrorists achieve their ultimate political goals by exploiting the media, and are often captured as a result of news reports - as in the Unabomber case. South Africa's African National Congress, which won sympathy for its plight and eventually obtained power in part through terrorist activities, is a rare exception to the rule.