Terrorism: a history

Terrorism is one of the forces defining our age, but it has also been around since some of the earliest civilizations. This one-of-a-kind study of the history of terrorism -- from ancient Assyria to the post-9/11 War on Terror -- puts terrorism into broad historical, political, religious and social context. The book leads the reader through the shifting understandings and definitions of terrorism through the ages, and its continuous development of themes allows for a fuller understanding of the uses of and responses to terrorism. The study of terrorism is constantly growing and ever changing. In Terrorism: A History, Randall Law gives students and general readers access to this rich field through the most up-to-date research combined with a much-needed long-range historical perspective. He extensively covers jihadism, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, Northern Ireland and the Ku Klux Klan plus lesser known movements in Uruguay, Algeria and even the pre-modern uses of terror in ancient Rome, medieval Europe and the French Revolution, among other topics. -- Back cover.

Terror and tyrannicide in the Ancient world -- Terror and tyrannicide in the Middle Ages -- Terror and tyrannicide in the early Modern Era in Europe -- The dawn of revolutionary terrorism -- Russian revolutionary terrorism -- The era of European Attentat -- Labor, anarchy, and terror in America -- White supremacy and American racial terrorism -- The dawn of ethno-nationalist terrorism -- The era of state terror -- Decolonization and ethno-nationalist terrorism from the 1930s to the early 1960s -- Decolonization and ethno-nationalist terrorism from the late 1960s to the present -- The era of leftist and international terrorism -- The rise of Jihadist terrorism -- Alternative terrorisms -- 9/11, the War on Terror, and recent trends in terrorism.