Product Description

Suicide terrorism in its modern form made its first appearance in Lebanon in the early 1980s. Over the last quarter century, terrorist attacks perpetrated by suicide bombers have spread to many corners of the world and have become a major threat for both the governments and citizens of numerous countries. Can this devastating phenomenon be attributed to a specific religion or culture? What are the causes and motivations that lead ordinary people to embark upon suicide attacks? How are potential bombers trained for their mission? And is it possible for democratic governments to effectively cope with this challenge?

In this compelling book, Ami Pedazhur investigates the root causes of suicide terrorism and its rapid proliferation in recent years. Drawing on a variety of sources, the book explores the use of human bombs in Lebanon, Israel, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Chechnya, Iraq, and the ostentatious attacks of Al-Qaeda and the global jihad. It is the only book to offer such an in-depth, up-to-date, cross cultural analysis of suicide terrorism in the twenty-first Century.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1061946 in Books
• Published on: 2004-12-27
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Review
"Ami Pedahzur’s articulate and groundbreaking work not only addresses how terrorism occurs, but also why terrorist groups have chosen suicide terrorism as a tactic throughout the globe ... an outstanding examination of suicide terrorism."
Australian Journal of Political Science

"A noteworthy and essential addition to the body of literature. Pedahzur adds significant, accessible insight into suicide operations that informs strategic, operational, and tactical perspectives."
British Army Review

"Helps us understand the gendered nature of suicide terrorism."
Nicola Pratt, Democratiya

"Suicide Terrorism is among the most authoritative and incisive analyses of this subject available. Ami Pedahzur’s meticulous research and trenchant analysis coupled with his direct experience of suicide terrorism’s corrosive effects on society endow the book with a perspective and gravitas unique in the literature. Suicide Terrorism is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the emergence and growth of this tactic and the best means to counter it."
Bruce Hoffman, US Military Academy, West Point; author of Inside Terrorism

"This is a comprehensive approach to a difficult phenomenon by someone who knows his subject well. Pedhazur writes with the cool clarity of a seasoned social scientist, but with the sensitivity of one who has lived through suicide attacks and can count former students and colleagues among the victims. Comparing cases of Muslim militants associated with Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hizbollah, with Sri Lankan Tamil separatists, Kurdish nationalists and Japanese kamikaze fighters, he derives a complex analytic framework with cultural, political and socio-psychological dimensions. This book brings our understanding of this increasingly familiar form of terrorism to a new level of sophistication."
Mark Juergensmeyer, author of Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence

"Ami Pedahzur has established himself as one of the most astute observers of terrorist violence in general and suicide terrorism in particular. In this work he answers all the crucial questions concerning the when, why and how of suicide attacks. This is an outstanding book by an outstanding young scholar."
Leonard Weinberg, University of Nevada Reno

"Suicide Terrorism is an exhaustive study and provides incisive analysis of the subject."
Mia Bloom, University of Georgia

From the Back Cover
Suicide terrorism in its modern form made its first appearance in Lebanon in the early 1980s. Over the last quarter century, terrorist attacks perpetrated by suicide bombers have spread to many corners of the world and have become a major threat for both the governments and citizens of numerous countries. Can this devastating phenomenon be attributed to a specific religion or culture? What are the causes and motivations that lead ordinary people to embark upon suicide attacks? How are potential bombers trained for their mission? And is it possible for democratic governments to effectively cope with this challenge?

In this compelling book, Ami Pedazhur investigates the root causes of suicide terrorism and its rapid proliferation in recent years. Drawing on a variety of sources, the book explores the use of human bombs in Lebanon, Israel, Sri Lanka, Turkey, Chechnya, Iraq, and the ostentatious attacks of Al-Qaeda and the global jihad. It is the only book to offer such an in-depth, up-to-date, cross cultural analysis of suicide terrorism in the twenty-first Century.

About the Author
Ami Pedahzur is an associate professor at the University of Texas, Austin and a senior research fellow at the National Security Studies Center, University of Haifa, Israel

Customer Reviews

Solid work on suicide terrorism
The purpose of this book is to explore suicide terrorism in the latter part of the 20th century and the early 21st century. In the 1980s, Hezbollah used this tactic in Lebanon--with spectacular results.

As the Preface remarks (page xv): "Suicide bombing is the signature tactic of the fourth or 'religious wave' of modern terrorism, a wave that began with the Iranian Revolution of 1979."

The chapters in this edited volume deal with a variety of key issues:

1. The nature of suicide terrorism;
2. Motivations for suicide terrorism;
3. Islam and Al Qaeda;
4. Osama bin Laden.

The Introduction does a nice job of laying out what is at stake in this volume. It concludes by noting that (page 11): "In summary, the characteristics of suicide attacks which have been discussed point to the fact that, in contrast to common belief, suicide attacks are varied and change from region to region and during different time periods."

A good edited volume that gets one to thinking about the issues involved with suicide terrorism.

Well informed and explain
Although the topic of suicide attacks has the peculiarity of being a changing and evolutionary tactic that varies from region to region, at least for me who has read the majority of the books about it, this one I think is elegantly written, the author has a profound interest in analyses that really shows you a thorough understanding case by case beyond conventional wisdom. Well informed and explain.