40 Books on Terrorism & Counter-Terrorism-Related Subjects
PERSPECTIVES ON TERRORISM Volume 11, Issue 3 Counterterrorism Bookshelf: 40 Books on Terrorism & Counter-Terrorism-Related Subjects Reviewed by Joshua Sinai This column consists of capsule reviews of books from various publishers. The reviews are listed in the sections on Terrorism – General Accounts, Counterinsurgency, Radicalization and Countering Extremism, Africa, Afghanistan/South Asia, Global Jihad, Hizballah, Israel, Red Army Faction, and United Kingdom. Terrorism – General Accounts Kai Bird, The Good Spy: The Life and Death of Robert Ames (New York, NY: Broadway Books, 2014), 448 pp., US $ 16.00 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-0-3078-8976-8. On April 18, 1983, a bomb exploded outside the American embassy in Beirut, killing 63 people, injuring 120 others, including Robert Ames, the CIA’s Director of the Office of Near East and South Asia Analysis, who was considered one of the agency’s most influential and effective operatives in the Middle East. The attack, which was carried out by a suicide bomber driving a van packed with explosives, was attributed to Hizballah, and was reportedly organized by Imad Mughniyah, it’s most effective terrorist mastermind. This book is an extensively researched journalistic account of Ames’ life and CIA career leading up to his death. It also provides a wider context for understanding the ‘spy games’ played in the Middle East at the time by America, Israel, and other governments, including the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), with whose operative Ali Hassan Salameh, Ames had maintained close contact. Mr. Bird is a prominent American journalist and author. Peter Calvert, Terrorism, Civil War, and Revolution: Revolution and International Politics [Third edition] (New York, NY: Continuum, 2010), 200 pp., US $ 99.00 [Hardcover], US $ 31.46 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-1-4411- 5364-7.
[Show full text]