Tangled Roots: Social and Psychological Factors in the Genesis of Terrorism
The book is organized to assist readers in finding the topics that interest them the most. What do we really know about the contributing causes of terrorism? Are all forms of terrorism created equal, or are there important differences in terrorisms that one must know about to customize effective counter-strategies? Does poverty cause terrorism? Are terrorists typically crazy, vengeful, misled, or simply making an entirely sensible choice? Why would people blow themselves (and others) up? Is the “war on terrorism” even a useful idea? Is it being fought wisely, or are much better ideas staring policy makers in the face? Do leaders of targeted nations wilfully neglect the best solutions?
Most of the lessons in this book concern the basic human ingredients that combust to produce violent extremism. Thus–regardless of the mutations that occur in substate terrorism–the timeless scholarship here will hopefully be somewhat helpful even to our grandchildren.