Talking to the Enemy: Violent Extremism, Sacred Values, and What it Means to Be Human

(Paperback)

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'Passionate, incisive . . . we have all got it wrong, especially when it comes to suicide terrorism . . . this book tells us that we are not winning and why' Sunday Times 'Deeply researched, wide ranging, and very timely' Noam Chomsky This book is a provocative exploration of one of the most contentious questions of our times- what drives someone to take their own life and others' through terrorism Anthropologist Scott Atran, who has spent years talking to extremists from Afghanistan to Indonesia, gives a unique insight into the minds of radicalized people, and ranges across human history to show what makes us believe so strongly that we will kill. 'Atran deploys his formidable knowledge to dissect the various dynamics that have helped form human individuals into groups, warbands, hunting parties or armies over millennia' Jason Burke 'An important book, by turns fascinating, dense, scientific, debatable, illuminating' David Aaronovitch 'A call to observe and understand. It's one that should be heard far and wide' Guardian 'Scott Atran is one of the very few persons who have figured out that religion is not about belief and cannot be naively replaced without severe side effects' Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Reviews

This deeply researched, wide ranging, and very timely study provides a compelling and often surprising account of what lies behind the jihadi phenomenon . . . . It should be read carefully, and pondered. -- Noam Chomsky
Talking to the Enemy is an important book, by turns fascinating, dense, scientific, debatable, illuminating. -- David Aaronovitch * The Times *
Scott Atran is one of the very few persons who understand religion and have figured out that religion is not about belief and cannot be naively replaced without severe side effects. -- Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan

Author Bio

Scott Atran is a director of research in anthropology at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, France. He is also a research associate and visiting professor in psychology and public policy at the University of Michigan, a Presidential Scholar in Sociology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, and cofounder of ARTIS Research and Risk Modeling.