Global Terrorism [antikvár]

forewordIt is hard to think of a more appropriate scholar than Leonard Weinberg to author Global Terrorism: A Beginner's Guide. Leonard is Foundation Professor of Political Science at the University of Nevada, Reno and has a formidable track record as a specialist in the study of terrorism, political violence and extremism.He has a masterly knowledge of the experience of political violence and extremism by major countries and this is reflected in his influential w^orks. The Transformation of Italian Communism (1995) and The Emergence of a Euro-American Radical Right (1998, v^rith Jeffrey Kaplan). Leonard's understanding of the complexities of extremism and violence in the European democracies was deepened by his tenure of a Fulbright senior research fellowship in Italy and a visiting professorship at the University of Florence. However, he is a scholar with a wide range of interests and his work on the Radical Right with Jeffrey Kaplan, and his book Revival of Right-Wing Extremism in the Nineties (1997), which he co-edited with Peter Merkl, provided some ground-breaking cross-national comparisons of extremist movements, including analysis of developments in the United States. Leonard has also been applying his specialist knowledge to the daunting problems of Christian-Jewish reconciliation for which work he received the Thornton Peace Prize in 1999. As co-editor of the academic journal Terrorism and Political Violence, I particularly value Leonard's work as our book review editor, for which his qualities of academic rigour, fairness and breadth of knowledge have proved invaluable.I warmly commend this book to readers who desire a concise, clear and balanced guide to the phenomenon of terrorism in today'sVll