Terrorism books
Terrorism books to start from. Open one to see books like it, or tell BookSense what you loved for four picks made for you.
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New to the genre? These 5 are the books to read first.
Inside Terrorism
Bruce HoffmanA clear introduction to the history, motives and organization of modern terrorist groups, widely used in university courses; the book was revised in 2006.
The Looming Tower
Lawrence WrightA detailed narrative history of al-Qaeda and the US and Egyptian intelligence failures before 2001; it won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction.
Terrorism
Walter LaqueurAn early broad survey of political violence across regions and ideologies, useful for seeing how the field's questions were first framed.
The Secret Agent
Joseph ConradA novel about an anarchist bomb plot in London, and one of the earliest major literary treatments of terrorism in fiction.
Terror in the Mind of God
Mark JuergensmeyerA study of religiously motivated violence across several traditions, arguing that these groups often see themselves in cosmic war.
Chosen and described with AI from our notes on the genre.
More terrorism books
- Demons
DemonsFyodor Dostoevsky - The Day of the Jackal
The Day of the JackalFrederick Forsyth - The Little Drummer Girl
The Little Drummer GirlJohn le Carré - Mao II
Mao IIDon DeLillo - Dying to Win
Dying to WinRobert Anthony Pape - Taliban
TalibanAhmed Rashid - Al-Qaeda
Al-QaedaJason Burke - Isis
IsisJ. M. Berger - Hunting Terrorists
Hunting TerroristsJoe Navarro2005 - Not Without My Daughter
Not Without My DaughterBetty Mahmoody1987 - Flight Into Fear
Flight Into FearDevi Sharan2000 - The Unabomber Manifesto
The Unabomber ManifestoTheodore Kaczynski1995