With so many books published on terrorism-, counterterrorism-, and homeland security-related subjects, this review column features capsule reviews of 40 recently published books to provide readers with concise assessments about their content. The review column is organized topically and, within the topics, alphabetically, according to the authors’ last names. In case a book is published in hardcover and paperback, the ISBN numbers refer to the paperback edition. Please contact the reviewer to recommend books for inclusion in future review columns.
Terrorism – General
Jason Burke, The Revolutionists: The Story of the Extremists Who Hijacked the 1970s (New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 2026), 768 pp., $40.00 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-0-4245-5943-3.
This important book is an extensively researched, engaging and comprehensive account of a formative period in the escalation and pervasiveness of terrorism: the period between the late 1960s and the early 1980s, with the attacks occurring in two dozen countries on four continents.
Two important and interrelated developments took place during this period, the author writes. The first was the emergence of a new type of transnational terrorism, with its epicentre in the Middle East, represented by the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. The second development, which emerged in the late 1970s, was the rise of terrorism associated with Islamist extremism (p. xvii), which has escalated since then to become the most prevalent type of terrorism in the current period. These developments were enabled by mass media and air passenger travel, and accompanied by “an unprecedented wave of spectacular violence spread around the world” (p. xvii). Among the numerous terrorists covered in the account include the Palestinian Abu Nidal Organization (ANO), the Black September Organization (BSO), the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), as well as Ilich Sanchez Ramirez, the Venezuelan Marxist known as ‘Carlos the Jackal’. Also covered are the Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Japanese Red Army (JRA), the German Red Army Faction (RAF), and other terrorist groups. This book is indispensable in understanding the nature and magnitude of the current Islamist terrorism period. The author is a British-based international security correspondent for The Guardian. He has been a foreign correspondent for some thirty years, reporting from the Middle East, South Asia, Europe, and Africa., and is the author of several prominent books on terrorism, including al Qaida.
Michael Fredholm Von Essen, Hybrid Threats: Concept and Recognition Guide (Warwick, England, UK: Helion & Company, Limited, 2025), 72 pp., $29.95 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-1-8045-1880-9.
This book examines the nature and magnitude of hybrid threats, especially by countries such as Russia and Iran, against their adversary states, that combine direct action and proxies to carry out state-directed terrorist violence and sabotage, as well as psychological warfare in the form of disinformation campaigns. Numerous case studies and tables are provided to illustrate the risk of hybrid warfare. The author, a Swedish historian and military analyst, publishes extensively on international security issues and heads the Research and Development Department at IRI, a research institute in Stockholm, Sweden.
Godfrey Garner and Maeghin Alarid-Hughes, Origins of Terrorism: The Rise of the World’s Most Formidable Terrorist Groups (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2021), 178 pp., $135.12 [Hardcover], $43.96 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-0-3677-7186-7.
This is an excellent account of the origins and evolution of modern terrorism and some of the significant terrorist organizations and their leaders. The motivations, modus operandi, weapons, targeting and attacks of terrorist organizations such as al Qaida, ISIS, the Taliban, and Boko Haram, are examined. Of great interest is the authors’ discussion of the relationships between terrorist leaders, such as al Qaida’s Usama bin Laden and Musab al Zarkawi – the founder of al Qaida in Iraq’ (AQI), which became ISIS. Godfrey Garner is a professor specializing in homeland security and counterterrorism at Mississippi College, as well as adjunct at Tulane University and Belhaven University. Maeghin Alarid-Hughes is an adjunct professor at Arapahoe Community College, Colorado, specializing in terrorism and risk analysis. She is also a consultant on counterterrorism at Guidepoint.
Graeme Gill, Revolution and Terror (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2024), 304 pp., $49.27 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-0-1989-0110-5.
In this fascinating book, the author examines the relationship between revolution against the state, which is an organized mass protest campaign to overthrow a government, and terrorism, which involves frequent or infrequent violent attacks by smaller groups and lone actors against their adversary states and their populations to achieve their objectives. The author distinguishes between different types of terror: (1) revolutionary terror, which aims to destroy the state and replace it with a counter ruling elite, (2) transformational terror, which aims to transform the state politically and socio-economically, and (3) inverted terror, in which groups employ violence against one part of the ruling elite in favor of another elite faction (p. 19) To illustrate the author’s thesis, the French, Russian, and Chinese revolutions are examined. Among the findings are that dominant “individual leaders are crucial to the unrolling of all types of terror” (p. 247), and that revolutions “usually generate opposition” and that when the new regimes feel insecure they will use terror to consolidate their power (p. 260). The author is Professor Emeritus, Department of Government and International Relations, University of Sydney, Australia.
Terrorism – Textbooks & Handbooks
Max Abrahms (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Terrorism Studies: New Perspectives and Topics (New York, NY: Routledge, 2025), 318 pp., $240.00 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-1-0328-8873-6.
The contributors to this edited handbook examine terrorism and counterterrorism in all their dimensions. These include the origins and evolution of terrorism, defining terrorism, state-directed terrorism, terrorist actors, conflict zones, such as in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Latin America, major terrorist attacks, terrorists’ mindsets and operations, females and terrorism, how terrorist groups are organized, terrorists’ ideologies, including the role of the Great Replacement Theory on far-right wing terrorism, significant terrorist groups, such as Hizballah and Hamas, emerging trends in terrorists’ weapons, the nexus between terrorism and criminality, terrorists’ use of social media and cyberterrorism, terrorism and human rights, assessing the effectiveness of government CT campaigns, including targeted assassinations of terrorist leaders and the possibility of government overreactions, and assessing the effectiveness of terrorist warfare in impacting their targeted societies. The author is professor of political science at Northeastern University, where he specializes in international security, especially terrorism.
This terrific textbook utilizes case studies and organized student activities to teach the subject of international security to college students. The case studies cover subjects such as war and ethnic conflict, climate change, migration, organised crime and terrorism. The Appendix features a useful outline for a lecture and seminar outline syllabus for a week-week courses on security studies. The author is Professor of International Security and Ethics, Department of Political Science and International Studies, University of Birmingham, UK
Lara A. Frumkin, John F. Morrison, and Andrew Silke (Eds.), A Research Agenda for Terrorism Studies (Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2023), 298 pp., $156.00 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-1-7899-0909-8.
Part of the Elgar Research Agendas, the contributors to this edited handbook apply multidisciplinary approaches to examine the state and trends in terrorism and counterterrorism studies in government and academia. This includes emerging analytical methodologies, such as ethnography, interviews with incarcerated and former terrorists, the use by terrorists of social media, the role of women in terrorism, terrorism incident databases, and ethical considerations in conducting terrorism research. It includes a jargon laden chapter by authors belonging to the sub-discipline of Critical Terrorism Studies on the broader field, in which they confusingly highlight a shortfall that needs to be addressed in their field as “the dual issues of positionality of knowledge production, and the need for an epistemic decolonization in research methodology and approach” (p. 67). Lara A. Frumkin is Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology and Counselling, Open University, UK. John F. Morrison is a professor at the School of Law and Criminology, Maynooth University, Ireland, and Andrew Silke is a professor at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK
Murat Haner and Melissa M. Sloan (Eds.), Theories of Terrorism: Contemporary Perspectives (New York, NY: Routledge, 2022), 396 pp., $160.00 [Hardcover], $47.99 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-1-0321-0423-2.
The contributors to this important and comprehensive edited volume examine the major theories of terrorism and counterterrorism. These include the origins, causes, and evolution of terrorism, the psychology of terrorism, religiously extremist driven terrorism, White Nationalist Supremacy and terrorism, radicalization into terrorism, how terrorists conduct their operations, including suicide terrorism, and how they select their targets, how governments attempt to counter terrorism, including violent extremism, promoting disengagement from terrorism, and how terrorism ends. With the volume’s chapters organized thematically, it is recommended as a supplementary textbook for courses on terrorism and counterterrorism. Murat Haner is a Lecturer of Criminology at the Department of Criminology at the University of South Florida. Melissa M. Sloan is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Interdisciplinary Social Sciences at the University of South Florida.
Brenda J. Lutz, Andrew T.H. Tan, and Julian Droogan, Global Terrorism [Fifth Edition] (New York, NY: Routledge, 2026), 404 pp., $160.00 [Hardcover], $46.39 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-1-0328-4964-5.
Now in its fifth edition, this excellent comprehensive textbook examines topics such as the origins and evolution of terrorism, the intersection between terrorism and insurgency, the varieties of terrorist ideologies and agendas, how terrorist groups and lone actors operate, emerging weapons and innovations in terrorist tactics, governments’ counterterrorism campaigns, and how terrorism ends. Brenda J. Lutz is a Boston, MA-based political scientist who co-authored the textbook’s previous editions with her late husband. Andrew T.H. Tan is Julian Droogan is a Professor, School of International Studies at Macquarie University, Australia.
Narco-Terrorism
Chris Feistl and Dave Mitchell, with Jessica Balboni, After Escobar: Taking Down the Notorious Cali Godfathers and the Biggest Drug Cartel in History (New York, NY/Nashville, TN: Post Hill Press, 2025), 352 pp., $23.00 [Paperback], ISBN: 979-8-8884-5396-4.
This is a fascinating, dramatic and insider’s account of the apprehension in the early 1990s by the former head of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of Colombia’s Cali drug cartel, which had become one of the world’s largest and most powerful crime syndicates. Attesting to its importance, the book’s account was featured in season 3 of the Netflix series “Narcos.” Chris Feistl was a DEA Special Agent for twenty-six years, serving in diverse assignments throughout the US as well as twelve years in Colombia, South America, and currently runs ClearPath Investigative Solutions, LLC, which provides investigative services and personal protection to a select group of high-profile clients, in Florida. Jessica Balboni is a Boston-based writer and editor.
Terrorism – Maritime
Peter Lehr, A Modern History of Maritime Terrorism: From the Fenian Ram to Explosive-Laden Drone Boats (Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2023), 220 pp., $135.00 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-1-8391-0977-5.
An important account of the origins and evolution of the threat of maritime terrorism around the world. It defines maritime terrorism, its past and current manifestations, motivations, tactics and weapons, where such attackers operate and their target selection, and future trajectories. The book is structured into three parts about maritime terrorism: past, present (e.g., maritime jihad), and future (e.g., likely future terrorist actors, locations of attacks, and weapons and tactics). The author, one of the world’s leading experts on maritime terrorism, is Senior Lecturer in Terrorism Studies, Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence (CSTPV), School of International Relations, University of St Andrews, UK.
Radicalization into Terrorism
Beatrice De Graaf, The Radical Redemption Model: Terrorist Beliefs and Narratives (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2024), 360 pp., $132.00 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-0-1977-9246-9.
This is the first volume of a publication series managed by the author on applying social science-based empirical methods to examine extreme beliefs and behaviors. This volume is an insightful account, based on the author’s examination of the oral histories and social psychology of the variety of terrorists’ ideological beliefs and narratives about their political and warfare objectives. Case studies include the Netherlands, Syria, Pakistan, and Indonesia. One of the author’s findings is that when the religious communities distance themselves from the terrorists who claim to act on their behalf, the supposedly redemptive messages espoused terrorists are “significantly reduced” (p. 284). The Appendices include a table listing the interviewees and their profiles, the methods used to conduct the study, and the ethical issues involved in conducting such field research. The author is Distinguished Professor and holds the Chair of History of International Relations at Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
Rik Peels and John Horgan (Eds.), Conceptualizing Extreme Beliefs and Behaviors: Definitions and Relations (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2025), 424 pp, $132.00 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-0-1977-6019-2.
As explained by this important volume’s editors, this is the second volume in the Extreme Belief and Behavior Series, which seeks to formulate the elements of a new paradigm to explain the components of extremism, fanaticism, fundamentalism, and radical conspiracy theorizing which might lead to engagement in terrorism (p. 1). The premises examined include whether such extremists are “generally normal and rational people,” are there things about their beliefs and motivations that are unknown, are the scholars studying them overly subjective, and is there sufficient exchange of findings between different disciplines to result in greater understanding of these issues (pp. 1-2). Among the volume’s strengths are the chapters, which are too numerous to discuss in a capsule review, that discuss these issues, as well as the accompanying tables that operationalize them in an index, matrix, and how they are interrelated. Rick Peels is a university research chair in analytic and interdisciplinary philosophy of religion at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, The Netherlands. John Horgan is Distinguished University Professor at Georgia State University's Department of Psychology, where he directs the Violent Extremism Research Group (VERG).
Counterterrorism
Fred Burton and Scott Stewart, The Protective Intelligence Advantage: Mitigating the Rising Threat to Prominent People (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2026), 210 pp., $49.99 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-1-0410-8961-2.
With politically-driven violent threats against prominent public officials and corporate executives on the rise during the current highly polarized environment, this important and useful book by veteran public safety practitioners discusses the violent attack cycle, profiles of potential attackers, and the protective intelligence-led security and awareness tools that are required to safeguard their safety. The attack cycle, the authors write, consists of target identification and selection, planning and preparation, weapons acquisition, deployment, attack, escape, suicide, or survive, and [media] exploitation (p. 103). To enter the attack cycle, potential attackers generally are driven by a grievance they fantasize about taking violent revenge against their perceived targets. Often, the authors note, such potential attackers will leak their violent intentions in social media, with the threats ranging from public denouncement, doxing, harassment, and attack (p. 113). These pre-incident warning phases present intervention points for others associated with the potential attackers to identify for preemptive preemption. Protective measures, the authors highlight, begin with conducting environmental baseline threat assessments and establishing concentric layers of security. Future attack trends by attackers include the use artificial intelligence (AI) to gather information, post false information, and conduct cyberattacks, and deploying drones and other electronic devices. These subjects are discussed in a user-friendly manner that is visually illustrated and accompanied by informative case studies. Austin, Texas-based Fred Burton is a protective security advisor to several security firms, and a former State Department counterterrorism deputy chief and Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) special agent. Scott Stewart is Vice President of Protective Intelligence at TorchStone Global, a security consultancy firm, and a former special agent at the State Department’s DSS.
James Ottavio Castagnera, Counter Terrorism Issues: Case Studies in the Courtroom [Second Edition] (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2025), pp., $200.00 [Hardcover], $66.99 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-1-0327-5460-4.
This is a comprehensive account of how the American judicial system has handled domestic terrorism since the 1990s. Significant court cases are examined, such as the two attacks against the World Trade Center, the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, the 2009 Fort Hood attack, the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, and the violent attackers of the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021. as well as an examination of the events of January 6, 2021. Especially noteworthy is the account’s drawing on trial transcripts, witness statements, and judicial opinions. The author is a retired attorney and professor of legal studies, who has published numerous books on these subjects.
Martin Herzog, GSG 9: From Munich to Mogadishu – The Birth of Germany’s Counterterrorism Force (Havertown, PA: Casemate, 2025), 328 pp., $37.95 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-1-6362-4572-0.
A fascinating account of the origins and evolution of GSG-9, Germany’s elite counterterrorism force. It became world renowned in October 1977 when, as a relatively unknown German police unit, it stormed a hijacked Lufthansa airliner in Mogadishu, Somalia, it freed the freed 86 hostages and killed three of the four terrorists. It was also involved in the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre by the Black September Palestinian terrorists. The author, a German journalist and television documentary producer, is based in Cologne, Germany.
Newton Lee, Counterterrorism and Cybersecurity: Total Information Awareness [Third Edition] (Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature, 2024), 646 pp., $79.99 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-3-0316-3125-2.
This is an insightful account of the history, strategies and technologies shaping the cybersecurity component in counterterrorism. U.S. government agencies are highlighted, including the FBI’s cybersecurity division. New cybersecurity technologies include the application of quantum computing. The author is president of the Institute for Education, Research, and Scholarships based in Los Angeles, CA, He is a former Disney and Bell Labs engineer, and a 2021 graduate of the FBI Citizens Academy.
Ben Saul, (Ed.), Research Handbook on International Law and Terrorism [Second Edition] (Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing Limited, 2020), 752 pp., $423.00 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-1-7889-7221-5.
The contributors to this important and comprehensive edited volume present the latest findings in researching the components of international counter-terrorism law. In addition to discussing human rights, the law of armed conflict, the use of force, including targeted killings, torture and rendition, and international criminal law, this edition includes new topics such as the judicial handling of foreign terrorist fighters in their countries of origin, the nexus between organized crime and terrorism, and countering violent extremism. The editor is Challis Chair of International Law, University of Sydney, Australia; Associate Fellow, Chatham House, Associate Fellow, International Centre for Counter-Terrorism in The Hague and a Consultant for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Terrorism Prevention Branch), UK
Military Warfare
Brennan S. Deveraux, Exterminating ISIS: Behind the Curtain of a Technological War (Havertown, PA: Casemate, 2025), 208 pp., $34.95 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-1-6362-4522-5.
The author, who was deployed to Iraq for much of 2016, writes about his personal experience in carrying out artillery missions in Operation Inherent Resolve against ISIS. The book is noteworthy for his account of what it means to be a soldier in a 21st-century military, including carrying out remote warfare against one’s adversaries. The author serves as a researcher at the U.S. Army War College, in Carlisle, PA.
International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance: The Annual Assessment of Global Military Capabilities and Economics 2025 (New York, NY: Routledge, February 2025), 530 pp., $945.00 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-1-0410-4967-8.
This is an indispensable, authoritative and comprehensive annually published open-source assessment of more than 170 countries’ military forces, personnel numbers, equipment inventories and defense economics. The 2025 handbook begins with the editor’s introduction and a chapter defense and military analysis that discusses re-baselining the defense industry. The more than 170 countries covered in the volume are examined by region (North America, Europe, Russia and Eurasia, Asia, Middle East and North Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Sub-Saharan Africa. For each country, an overview of its military capabilities is discussed, including details on the size of its organizations’ active and reserve military forces and extensive data on its military equipment inventories, and defense budgets. For the 2025 edition, the accompanying wallchart spotlights China’s armed forces, detailing the location of selected military units and the weapons characterizing their military bases. Such authoritative and detailed coverage and the extensive research underlying its data, justify the volume’s expensive price and why it is relied upon by government agencies, national security research institutes and major defense corporations.
Yaakov Katz and Amir Bohbot, While Israel Slept: How Hamas Surprised the Most Powerful Military in the Middle East (New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press, 2025), 336 pp., $29.00 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-1-2503-4568-4.
An excellently insightful and well written journalistic account of the worst military catastrophe in Israel’s history when on October 7, 2023, Hamas, ruler of the Gaza Strip, and asymmetrically weaker than the Israeli military and security forces, succeeded in launching a devastatingly surprise cross border attack into an unprepared and complacent Israel. Some 1200 Israeli civilian and military persons were killed, and more than 250 Israelis were kidnapped into Gaza. In the conclusion, the authors recommend five issues to upgrade Israeli national security: reforming intelligence, bolstering the U.S.-Israel alliance, improving Israeli public diplomacy efforts, preparing an exit strategy, and strengthening national resilience (pp. 278-310). Yakov Katz, an Israeli defense journalist, is the former editor-in-chief of “The Jerusalem Post.” Dr. Amir Bohbot is an Israeli defense journalist who serves as lecturer at Ben Gurion University and is a senior researcher at Bar Ilan University.
Andrew Sharpe, Andrew Stewart, and Matthias Strohn (Eds.), Storm Proofing: Preparing Armies for a Future War (Warwick, England, UK: Helion & Company, 2025), 198 pp., $37.95 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-1-8045-1763-5.
As explained by Andrew Sharpe, one of the volume’s editors, the contributors to this important volume examine the gaps in military readiness, especially the “relationship between human and machine” and the “three components of fighting power (physical, moral and conceptual,” that nations need address to prepare for 21st century warfare “to deter such war, or, if deterrence fails, successfully conduct it to a favourable conclusion” (p. xiii). To examine these issues, the contributors discuss issues such as the nuclear battlefield, the impact of the 4th industrial revolution on combat cohesion, artificial intelligence and human intuition, and ‘doubling fighting power’. Andrew Sharpe a retired British Army Major General, is the Director of the Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research (CHACR). Andrew Stewart is a Senior Lecturer within the Defence Studies Department, King's College London, the academic component of the United Kingdom's Joint Services Command and Staff College (JSCSC). Matthias Strohn is head of historical analysis at the CHACR and a member of the academic faculty at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Espionage and Insider Threats
William Costanza, Treason, Terrorism, and Betrayal: Why Individuals Cross the Line (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc., 2025), 279 pp., $115.00 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-8-8961-6017-5.
This is an important and insightful account of what the author highlights as three significant insider-type threats to American national security: (1) counterintelligence threats by adversary foreign governments seeking to obtain classified information from government institutions and private sector organizations, (2) the rise of radicalized domestic anti-government violent extremists, and (3) the unauthorized release of classified information by insiders for their own personal, ideological, or financial motives. To examine these issues the book’s chapters discuss subjects such as espionage, treason and counterintelligence, and case studies of espionage, jihadist and far-right extremists, insider threats, and how to mitigate the threats. The author, a prolific writer on these issues, had served as a senior operations officer with the CIA for more than two decades.
Nicholas Eftimiades, Chinese Espionage: Operations and Tactics [Second Edition] (Washington, DC: Vitruvian Press, January 2025), 214 pp., $21.95 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-0-9976-1883-9.
This is one of the most authoritative, extensively researched, and empirically data-based detailed accounts of the motivations, operations, and tactics of China’s espionage activities in the United States and globally. Now in its second edition, it contains additional analysis and incident data about China's espionage operations, which now total 855 cases in the author’s database. Especially valuable are the author’s illustrative cases, in which tradecraft analysis is applied to explain each one, and which are illustrated by empirically generated tables, matrices, graphs and diagrams. This volume is recommended as an indispensable reference resource for counterintelligence agencies and national security analysts. The author is a professor at Penn State University’s Homeland Security Program. He had previously served in the CIA, the Department of State, and the Defense Intelligence Agency.
Samuel M. Katz, The Architect of Espionage: The Man Who Built Israel’s Mossad Into the World’s Boldest Intelligence Force (New York, NY: Scribner, 2025), 432 pp., $31.00 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-1-6680-5974-6.
This is an important extensively researched, dramatically written, and authoritative biography of Meir Dagan, a retired highly decorated IDF Major General who became head of the Mossad (2002-2011), where he led the service in conducting daring intelligence operations. These included upgrading Israeli targeted assassinations of adversary terrorist leaders and operatives, and clandestine attempts to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear power, which included the reported cooperation with the American CIA in Operation Olympic Games (2005-2010), which consisted of covertly releasing the Stuxnet worm to sabotage the speeds of Iranian centrifuges (p. 306). The author includes an account of Dagan’s post-retirement impact on the invigorated Mossad, which included conducting spectacular covert operations, such as the September 2024 use of weaponized pagers to kill and wound hundreds of Hizballah leaders and operatives, as well as the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, Hizballah’s leader. The New York City-based author has published numerous bestselling books on intelligence, terrorism and counterterrorism.
Peter J. Lapp, with Kelly Kennedy, Queen of Cuba: An FBI Agent’s Insider Account of the Spy Who Evaded Detection for 17 Years (New York, NY/Nashville, TN: Post Hill Press, 2023), 272 pp., $28.99 [Hardcover], $19.99 [Paperback], ISBN: 979-8-8884-5549-4.
A fascinating and dramatic insider’s account of Ana Montes, a Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) analyst, who was arrested at her home in Washington, DC, on September 21, 2001, for spying for Cuba over a 17-year period. Intriguingly, her sister worked as a translator for the FBI, and her brother was an FBI agent. The author, a retired FBI counterintelligence agent, explains the motivations that drove Montes to spy on behalf of Cuba, her espionage activities over the years, and the clues that led the FBI’s team to identify and apprehend Montes. The author’s collaborator, Kelly Kennedy, is a US Army veteran, who is a professional editor and writer.
Anthony Vinci, The Fourth Intelligence Revolution: The Future of Espionage and the Battle to Save America (New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company, 2025), 352 pp., $30.99 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-1-2503-7090-7.
An important and well-informed account of the impact of the fourth intelligence revolution, particularly the pervasiveness of artificial intelligence (AI), on the future of espionage operations and its impact on countries’ critical infrastructures. The author, a veteran manager in U.S. intelligence, discusses how authoritarian adversaries, such as China, Iran, and Russia, are exploiting cutting-edge espionage technologies to engage in economic espionage (e.g., stealing proprietary financial data) industrial espionage (e.g., stealing innovative technologies), medical espionage (e.g., stealing medical breakthroughs), eavesdropping on sensitive government conversations, and, as part of their cognitive warfare, employing social media platforms to spread disinformation to influence public opinion in their favor. The author had served as the first Chief Technology Officer at the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) and currently is an executive at a private equity firm and CEO of an AI company. He is also an Adjunct Senior Fellow at the Center for a New American Security (CNAS)
Terrorism – Weapons of Mass Destruction
John Pichtel and Gus Martin, Terrorism and WMDs: Awareness and Response [Third Edition] (Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press, 2025), 480 pp., $67.99 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-1-0327-4330-1.
In this updated and revised third edition of the classic and indispensable textbook on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction (WMDs), the original author is joined by Gus Martin, the author of several textbooks on terrorism, counterterrorism, and homeland security. It examines the nature, motivations, and threats presented by terrorists’ actual and potential resort to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) warfare. The textbook is divided into four parts: introduction of WMDs and terrorism, the weaponization of CBRNE, deploying CBRNE and new WMD technology, and responding to CBRNE incidents. The new edition includes new chapters on the historical origins of terrorism, terrorist typologies, and the evolution of the modern terrorism, including the regional conflicts and domestic violent extremism in the United States. Also discussed are the drone attacks by both Ukraine and Russia and Russia’s occupation and bombardment of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), which highlights the threat of terrorists’ targeting of nuclear power plants. As a textbook, each chapter features sidebar boxes, tables, photos, and questions for further discussion. John Pichtel is a professor of natural resources and environmental management at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. Gus Martin is a professor and founding chair of the criminal justice administration department at California State University, Dominguez Hills, where he teaches courses on terrorism and extremism, criminal law, and the criminal justice system.
Brecht Volders, The Nuclear Terrorism Threat: An Organizational Approach (New York, NY: Routledge, 2021), 204 pp., $200.00 [Hardcover], $57.99 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-0-3677-1147-4. An interesting account that applies an organizational approach to examine the processes involved in terrorist groups motivations, acquisition, and development of a nuclear weapons capability. This approach is applied to four case studies: the construction of the first atomic bombs at Los Alamos National Laboratory; South Africa’s Peaceful Nuclear Explosives (PNE) program; Aum Shinrikyo’s chemical-biological armament activities; and al Qaida’s catastrophic 9/11 attacks. implementation of the 9/11 attacks. While two of these cases did not involve nuclear weapons, the author examines how a cost-benefit-based organizational approach is likely to be used by terrorist groups to develop and deploy a nuclear weapons capability to achieve their strategic objectives. The analysis is accompanied by useful figures, such as the pathways to development of an improvised nuclear device, and tables, such as an outline of the variables involved in innovation and technology acquisition of nuclear devices. The author obtained his PhD at the University of Antwerp, Belgium.
Terrorism – Right-Wing Extremism
Jennifer Carlson, Merchants of the Right: Gun Sellers and the Crisis of American Democracy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2023), 288 pp., $29.95 [Hardcover], $19.95 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-0-6912-3126-6.
An innovative account of the roles of firearm merchants in selling weapons to far-right-wing extremists in the United States. The author utilizes field research-based interviews with gun merchants, who are also active in the country’s right-wing driven culture war over gun rights versus measures to implement strict gun control measures on the purchase of firearms. The author is Professor of Sociology at Arizona State University and was a 2022 MacArthur Fellow.
Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesus, Jemima Pierre, and Junaid Rana (Eds.), The Anthropology of White Supremacy: A Reader (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2025), 400 pp., $99.95 [Hardcover], $29.95 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-0-6912-5818-8.
The contributors to this important edited volume, which is one of the very few comprehensive anthologies on White Supremacy, examine how this phenomenon of white racist hate groups and, in some cases, part of state policy, has become pervasive globally. As the editors explain, white supremacy is “a concept and ideology, a set of material practices, and a structure of power…[which is related] to the ideology of race, the belief in hierarchical radical difference, and the complex and uneven practices of race formation” (p. 3). To examine these issues, the volume’s contributors discuss these issues in the cases of Brazil, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Senegal, South Africa, and the United States. They also relate it to the global war on terrorism. Note that the anthology’s contributors are primarily left-wing in their academic treatment of this subject, which is still valuable to understand. Aisha M. Beliso-De Jesús is the Olden Street Professor of American Studies, Chair and chair of the Effron Center for the Study of America at Princeton University. Jemima Pierre is professor at the Social Justice Institute at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Junaid Rana is associate professor of Asian American studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Cynthia Miller-Idriss, Hate in the Homeland: The New Global Far Right (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2022), 288 pp., $29.95 [Hardcover], $21.95 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-0-6912-2294-3.
This is an important account by a leading academic expert on far-right-wing extremism, which has become pervasive globally. It examines their ideologies, which the author explains are basically “hierarchical and exclusionary,” in which they dehumanize their adversaries by highlighting their own “superiority and inferiority according to race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, religion, and sexuality” (p. 6). Also discussed are how new adherents are radicalized and recruited, such as on college campuses, mixed martial arts gyms, online gaming chat rooms, and, even, certain YouTube cooking channels. Most concerning, the author points out, is how their extremist messages have become mainstreamed. The book was published prior to the second Trump presidential administration, so the author’s conclusions and policy recommendations need to be updated. The author is Professor in the School of Public Affairs and in the School of Education at American University in Washington, DC, where she is the founding director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL).
Cynthia Miller-Idriss, Man Up: The New Misogyny & the Rise of Violent Extremism (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2025), 344 pp., $29.95 [Hardcover], ISBN: 978-0-6912-5754-9.
The prevalence of misogyny in characterizing the motivations of numerous psychologically-driven active shooters and ideologically extremist terrorists, whether by far-right-wing or Islamist perpetrators, is the subject of this important book. As the author points out, many of these attacks are carried out by males who are virulent misogynists, even if their primary motivations are racist or xenophobic. Some of these attacks are carried out by adherents of the misogynist Incel (involuntary celibate) movement. To examine these issues, the author focuses on violent incidents that include sexism and misogyny, including their linkages with racism and anti-LGBTQ+ movements (p. xiii). One of the author’s findings is that for such violent assailants, misogyny serves as “a predictor of violent extremism and a catalyst that mobilizes it” (p. 187). Most importantly, misogyny “acts as an incubator that reinforces ideas about entitlement, superiority, and the expected subordination and servitude of others” (p. 187). These findings are based on numerous cases of violent attacks carried out by such misogynistic perpetrators. The book’s concluding section includes resources and strategies for parents, educators, and others to preempt and mitigate such threats.
Mark Sedgwick (Ed.), Key Thinkers of the Radical Right: Behind the New Threat to Liberal Democracy (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2019), 352 pp., $170.00 [Hardcover], $42.99 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-0-1908-7759-0.
The contributors to this important edited volume examine the origins and evolution of key ideologies of the radical right-wing as expressed by the writings of several generations of their prominent thinkers. To examine these issues, the book is divided into three sections: (1) four “classic” thinkers: Oswald Spengler, Ernst Junger, Carl Schmitt, and Julius Evola; (2) seven “modern” thinkers: Alain de Benoist, Guillaume Faye, Paul Gottfried, Patrick J. Buchanan, Jarde Taylor, Alexander Dugin, and “Bat Ye’or” (a pen name); and (3) five “emergent” thinkers: “Mencius Moldbug” (a pen name), Greg Johnson, Richard B. Sencer, Jack Donovan, and Daniel Friberg. The editor explains that today’s radical right issues concern issues such as race, Islam, elites, and apocalyptic visions of societal decline, with the radical right becoming especially resurgent in countries such as America, France, Greece, Russia, and Hungary (p. xxiv). The author teaches in the Department of the Study of Religion at Aarhus University in Denmark.
Spencer Sunshine, Neo-Nazi Terrorism and Countercultural Fascism: The Origins and Afterlife of James Mason’s Siege (New York, NY: Routledge, 2024), 484 pp., $200.00 [Hardcover], $38.99 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-0-3671-9060-6.
This is an extensively archive-based researched and authoritative account of the formative period, beginning in the 1970s, that gave rise to neo-Nazi terrorism and Fascism in America. This period was exemplified by the Atomwaffen Division and the publication of James Mason’s Siege, which praised terrorism, serial killers, and Charles Manson. As the author explains, during this period and its aftermath several splinter terrorist groups emerged from the American Nazi Party/National Socialist White People's Party, which established the template for the current Neo-Nazi terrorist underground. To examine these issues, the book is divided into sevenx parts: #ReadSiege, Life among the Sects (1959-1986), SIEGE the newsletter (1980-1986), Countercultural Fascism (1986-1995), Siege the Book (1989-1995), and Coda (1995-2017), Appendices, and Neo-Nazi periodicals. This book is an indispensable reference resource for analyzing the origins and current state of New-Nazi terrorism in the U.S. The author is a prominent journalist who has written for numerous publications on the Neo-Nazi movement.
Terrorism – Africa
Sogo Angel Olofinbiyi, On the Crisis of Boko Haram Terrorism: Causes and Perspectives (New York, NY: Routledge, 2023), 190 pp., $200.00 [Hardcover], $57.99 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-1-0324-9441-8.
Based on the author’s doctoral dissertation, this is one of the finest applications of an empirical research inquiry to examine the socio-economic context of Boko Haram’s terrorist insurgency in Nigeria. It begins with an excellent account of key concepts in terrorism studies, which is followed by a discussion of the religious, ideological, and socio-economic and political root causes driving Boko Haram’s insurgency, which form the basis for how it radicalizers and recruits new members. This is followed by an insightful overview of Boko Haram’s insurgent activities and the author’s prescription for community policing, socio-economic reform measures, and peace negotiations to resolve the insurgency. The final substantive chapter discusses the methodological strategies the author used in writing the dissertation, such as the research design, and methods of data collection and analysis. The author is is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Criminal Justice, School of Law, at the University of Venda, South Africa.
Zacharias P. Pieri and Kevin S. Friday, Governance, Grievance & Violent Extremism in West Africa: From the Caliphates to Great Power Competition (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2025), 213 pp., $110.00 [Hardcover], ISBN: 979-8-8961-6026-7.
As explained by the authors, the book’s objective is to examine how powerful factors in the form of great power competition (GPC) shocks that are largely exogenous to communities contribute to mobilizing grievances by violent extremist organizations (VEOs) that cause local instability and violence in West Africa” (pp. 1-2). This framework is utilized to examine how great power rivalry, such as by China and the United States, affects the causes of violent instability in the three case studies of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ghana. Empirically generated data is utilized for the study’s findings about what the authors describe as “the sometimes interdependent relationships among jihadist terrorism, GPC, and governance” (p. 180). To resolve the VEOs insurgencies, the authors recommend “strengthening local governance structures and empowering community leaders…” (p. 180). Zacharias P. Pieri is associate professor of international relations and security at the University of South Florida. Kevin S. Fridy is professor of political science and international studies at the University of Tampa.
Terrorism – South/Central Asia
Eamon Murphy, Hindu Nationalism and Terrorism in India: The Saffron Threat to Democracy (New York, NY: Routledge, 2023), 186 pp., $190.00 [Hardcover], $59.99 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-1-0325-2567-9.
Part of the Routledge Critical Terrorism Studies series, this is an insightful and detailed case study of the threats presented by militant Hindu nationalism to the Indian state. Hindu nationalism is defined by the author as “a right-wing ethno-nationalist phenomenon in that India is defined by a shared heritage comprising a common language, Hindi, a common religion, Hinduism, and a common ethnic ancestry, Aryan” (p. 1). To examine these issues, the book’s chapters discuss the relationship between Hindu nationalism, caste and politics, “myths and misconceptions” about Islam and Christianity in the Indian sub-continent, the militias conducting Hindutva terror, the politics of religious extremism in the case of the destruction of the Babri Masjid in December 1992, communal violence in the Indian State of Gujarat in 2002, Hindu militancy in the Kashmir Valley, and the impact of the impact of the electoral victories of the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in promoting Hinduism and exacerbating the religious divide in the country. The author is Adjunct Professor, School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry, Curtin University, Western Australia.
This is a fascinating and extensively researched and analyzed account of the experiences of women terrorists (which the author terms “militants”), whether as fighters (combatants) or facilitators (noncombatants) in terrorist groups operating in the South Asian countries of India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh. In the concluding chapter, the author discusses the relevance of ideology in radicalizing and mobilizing women terrorists to join terrorist groups, as well as the roles of gender, patriarchy, and countering violent extremism in deradicalizing female terrorists, with prosecuting them as a last deterrent. The author is Professor of Political Science at King's College, London, England.
Terrorism – Western Europe
Steven Greer, Tackling Terrorism in Britain: Threats, Responses, and Challenges Twenty Years After 9/11 (New York, NY: Routledge, 2022), 226 pp., $160.00 [Hardcover], $49.95 [Paperback], ISBN: 978-1-0321-1700-3.
This is an authoritative assessment by a leading British legal scholar of the nature and effectiveness of the British government’s counterterrorism campaign against its primarily domestic terrorist adversaries since September 2001. To examine these issues, the book’s chapters cover subjects such as the threats presented by global jihad, domestic Islamist terrorism, and the nature of the government’s counterterrorism campaign in the form of CONTEST: protect and prepare, prevent, and pursue. The conclusion presents the author’s recommendation for including Britain’s Muslim community to become stakeholders in mitigating the threat of terrorism by some of its members. The book includes two valuable checklists of terrorist incidents in the UK, 2005-2020 and a chronology of key events, 1997-2020. The author is Professor of Human Rights at the University of Bristol Law School, England, UK.
Dr. Joshua Sinai is Professor of Practice, Intelligence & Global Security Studies, at Capitol Technology University, in Laurel, MD. He has reviewed books for the journal for almost 25 years.
