The Scourge of Terrorism from the Middle Ages to the Twenty-First Century

This is the first book covering the entire timeline as well as the actors and factors driving international terrorism in each phase of its development. It provides an historical journey across the terrorist landscape and offers insights and analyses of the successive challenges that terrorists have posed.

The narrative shifts from the Assassins of medieval times to the nihilists of Tsarist Russia to the left-wing, Marxist-oriented terrorist organizations of the Cold War era to the more recent Islamist-based groups, including their respective supporters and enablers--the Palestinians, Russia and the Soviet bloc, and Iran.

More than 20 years have elapsed since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A new generation has grown up with little or no knowledge of these horrific events and the warning signs that preceded them. Moreover, the Covid-19 pandemic, unprecedented political polarization, the growing focus on climate change and social justice and, most recently, the war in Ukraine have relegated the threat of terrorism to the back burner of U.S. national priorities. But Americans must remain vigilant for danger signs that could portend a new terrorist strike.

A valuable resource for both specialists and general readers, The Scourge of Terrorism also posits that counterterrorism in the post-9/11 and post-Afghanistan era requires new strategies to supplant the primarily military approach of the past.