TERRORISM

In a simplified, sensational treatment of a complex topic, Landau digests newspaper, magazine, and TV reports to give a strongly biased account of predicted threats to people in this country. Though she mentions the Ku Klux Klan, skinheads, and White Aryan Resistance in the US, her examples of terrorism come mainly from the Middle East—primarily terrorist acts by Palestinians, sponsored by various Arab governments. Little historical background is provided to allow readers to make their own judgments. Landau uncritically quotes alarmist predictions from State Department freelancers and FBI agents; most damagingly, she mentions that terrorist groups may be recruiting among Arab-Americans, a reference that could encourage attacks on innocent people. For action, she proposes a sort of world terrorist court—which could, conceivably, be used against dissenting exiles. Notes; further reading; index (not seen). (Nonfiction. 12+)