MODERN HISTORY OF SUICIDE BOMBING hezbollah iran israel

ISBN 0691117594

Size = 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall

What kind of people are suicide bombers? How do they justify their actions? In this meticulously researched and sensitively written book, journalist Christoph Reuter argues that popular views of these young men and women - as crazed fanatics or brainwashed automatons - fall short of the mark. In many cases these modern-day martyrs are well-educated young adults who turn themselves into human bombs willingly and eagerly - to exact revenge on a more powerful enemy, perceived as both unjust and oppressive. Suicide assassins are determined to make a difference, for once in their lives, no matter what the cost. As Reuter's many interviews with would-be martyrs, their trainers, friends, and relatives reveal, the bombers are motivated more by how they expect to be remembered - as heroic figures - than by religion-infused visions of a blissful life to come.

Reuter, who spent 8 years researching the book, moves from the broken survivors of the childrens' suicide brigades in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, to the war-torn Lebanon of Hezbollah, to Israeli-occupied Palestinian land, and to regions as disparate as Sri Lanka, Chechnya, and Kurdistan. He tells a disturbing story of the modern globalization of suicide bombing - orchestrated, as his own investigations have helped to establish, by the shadowy Al Qaeda network and unintentionally enabled by wrong-headed policies of Western governments. In a final, hopeful chapter, Reuter points to today's postrevolutionary, post-Khomeini Iran, where a new social environment renounces the horrific practice in the very place where it was enthusiastically embraced just decades ago.

CONTENTS:

INTRODUCTION: The Power of the Powerless, the Powerlessness of the Powerful
1. The Original Assassins: A History of Faith and Power in the Islamic World
2. A Key to Paradise around Their Necks: Iran's Suicide Battalions
3. The Marketing Strategists of Martyrdom: Hezbollah in Lebanon
4. Israel and Palestine: The Culture of Death
5. Suicide or Martyrdom? Modern Islam and the Feud of the Fatwas
6. Bushido Replaces Allahu akbar: The Japanese Kamikaze
7. The Parasites of Anger: Al-Qaeda and the Islamist Internationale
8. Separatist Movements & Female Suicide Bombers: The Cases of Sri Lanka & Kurdistan
9. After Martyrdom: Recent Developments in Iran
Notes
Index

200 pages. Hard cover with UNCLIPPED dust jacket. Ex-Library, very much cleaner & better than usual.

Weight = 800 g

BOOK / DUST JACKET CONDITION = VERY GOOD / VERY GOOD

NEW: This book has been designated by the seller as brand new.

FINE: No defects, little usage. Older books may show minor flaws.

VERY GOOD: Shows some signs of wear and is no longer fresh. Attractive.

GOOD: Average used book with all pages present. Possible loose bindings, highlighting, cocked spine or torn dust jackets.

FAIR: Obviously well-worn, but no text pages missing. May be without endpapers or title page. Markings do not interfere with readability.

POOR: All text is legible but may be soiled and have binding defects. Reading copies and binding copies fall into this category.