TERRORISM: A Special Kind of Violence

The bottom line is that terrorism works and there's no end in sight."" Though more Americans die each year in their bathtubs, or trying to cross the street, terrorist attacks have had a disproportionate effect on international tourism and many other economic activities. The authors paint a gloomy picture; often backed by national governments, terrorists have built bureaucracies, established training schools, even organized formal conferences: Terrorism has become an integral part of some cultures, passed on from parent to child. Forsyth, a forensic psychiatrist, presents a psychological portrait of the typical terrorist, and also discusses the variety of ways hostages respond to terrorist kidnapping. Anti-terrorist activities are only sketched; new techniques and equipment receive very brief mention, and ""counterterrorism"" as an occupation is not discussed. Recent examples, and a bibliography full of new titles, make this potentially useful as an update for more thoroughgoing studies such as Harris' The New Terrorism (Messner, 1983).