Blood and Rage: A Cultural history of Terrorism

(Paperback)

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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 edition will be updated to cover recent events including the recent terror attacks in Mumbai in November 2008 and the continued military clash in Gaza in early 2009.
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 1970s and 1980s 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 their 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.

Reviews

'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

Author 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.