Blood and Rage: A Cultural History of Terrorism
A far-reaching history of terrorism across the world from its beginnings to the modern-day, from the highly acclaimed author of 'Sacred Causes' and 'Earthly Powers'. The paperback will include new material, covering the elections in Pakistan, the death of Benazir Bhutto and the l... read full description below.
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Full details for this title
| Interest Age |
Young Adults |
| Reading Age |
Young Adults |
| NBS Text |
Current Affairs & Issues |
| ONIX Text |
General/trade |
|
| Number of Pages |
608 |
| Dimensions |
Width: 130mm
Height: 197mm
|
| Weight |
415g |
|
| Dewey Code |
303.62509 |
| Catalogue Code |
48856 |
Description of this Book
A far-reaching history of terrorism across the world from its beginnings to the modern-day, from the highly acclaimed author of 'Sacred Causes' and 'Earthly Powers'. The paperback will include new material, covering the elections in Pakistan, the death of Benazir Bhutto and the lasting impact of these events. Basing his study on a wide range of sources and key players from the world of terrorism, Burleigh explains and defines the meaning of terrorism and marks its progression from its hard to trace beginnings to the modern-day. Burleigh takes us from the origins of terrorism in the Irish Republican Brotherhood -- the precursors of the IRA -- on to look at Tsarist Russia where the 'intelligentsia' launched attacks on organs of state, and left-wing fighting against 'Fascism' and 'Nazism' in the 70's and 80's in western Germany and Italy. But such nationalist terrrorism has in turn been eclipsed by international jihadist violence, largely driven by widespread resentment of the successful societes of the West.Burleigh explores the background and the milieu of people engaged in careers of political violence, and examines their various mindsets as revealed by their actions rather than words. He makes clear that the West has considerable resources to comprehend and combat terrorism and shows how history enables us to see how terrrorism can be effectively contained and countered - if only by avoiding some of the major mistakes of the past. An unrivalled study that sheds an insightful new light on a plight that threatens to affect the world at large for many years to come, 'Blood and Rage' establishes Michael Burleigh as one of the most original, learned and important historians of our time.
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Awards & Reviews
| NZ Review |
'Bracingly opinionated!informative and absorbing!engaging and provocative.' Independent on Sunday 'Comprehensive, wide-ranging and superbly written !vivid and compelling.' Simon Heffer, Literary Review 'This timely and important books' relevance is embracing. [Burleigh] is a clear-eyed historian !he sets his targets in context !and then pulverises them with an orderly and ceaseless barrage of facts. Blood & Rage is in all sorts of ways an outstanding book.' Daily Telegraph 'Burleigh's evident ability to assimilate and communicate incisively ...a highly intelligent and comprehensive survey of recent terrorism.' Observer 'A magisterial tome, broad in scope, powerful in its argument and brimming with healthy rage...riveting.' Evening Standard 'The clearest, sanest and most knowledgeable voice is increasingly that of the historian Michael Burleigh. No one writes so well or so reliably, and this powerful book will give another boost to his reputation.' Daily Mail 'Written in Burleigh's usual cogent and trenchant style, the book can be highly recommended.' Sunday Telegraph Praise for 'Sacred Causes': 'Compelling!hugely ambitious!Burleigh is a writer who pulls no punches and seldom leaves a difficult question unasked.' Sunday Telegraph 'Impressive!formidable!his book deserves the widest possible readership.' Sunday Times |
| US Review |
A careful, sharp-edged study of warfare by other means.Terrorism, writes British historian Burleigh (Sacred Causes: The Clash of Religion and Politics from the Great War to the War on Terror, 2007, etc.), is a tactic primarily used by non-state actors to create a psychological climate of fear in order to compensate for the legitimate political power they do not possess. In what is likely to incite at least a little controversy, the author locates the origins of terrorism not in the Assassin cult of medieval Syria or the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, but instead in the Fenian movement of the mid-19th century, when Irish dissidents rose up against England and its presumed allies on three continents. The Fenians were thwarted by combined actions undertaken by the U.S. and British governments, but not before causing plenty of disorder and mayhem. The same was so of the nihilists of Russia, who, like contemporary anarchists elsewhere in Europe, tossed dynamite at the police and the ruling class - many of those dynamiters, Burleigh notes, were young upper-class women a la Patty Hearst. The author adds that the anarchist bombers caused exaggerated panic that served to discredit political philosophies whose libertarian impulses might otherwise strike some as praiseworthy. Less exalted, to most modern sensibilities, are the aims of the modern terrorists to whom Burleigh devotes the lion's share of the book, foremost among them the Islamists. The context of jihadist terrorism, he notes, is fairly young, traced to an outburst of fundamentalist zealotry 30 years ago and marked by parallel movements in other monotheistic faiths, though without the same violent effects. Burleigh is no relativist, and he has pointed words for anyone who is, becoming quite like Pat Buchanan in the concluding pages - save that Burleigh looks to the politicians of Australia, and not Northern Virginia, to argue that there are lines in the sand...which are not going to be crossed. Readable and provocative, though with a decidedly conservative cast. (Kirkus Reviews) |
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Author's Bio
Michael Burleigh's two-part history of politics and religion, 'Earthly Powers' and 'Sacred Causes', were two of the most acclaimed books of 2005 and 2006 respectively. His work has been translated into fifteen languages and his 'The Third Reich: A New History', won the Samuel Johnson Prize in 2001. He writes for several newspapers on religion, history and politics. He is a member of the Academic Advisory Board at the Institut fur Zeitgeschichte in Munich and wrote this book while a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford. He is married and lives in London.
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