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Posted: **Sun Apr 07, 2002 11:29 am**

Folks,

I noticed at the Palermo conference that some people were reading books relevant to Afghanistan and terrorism and I wondered if people wanted to share their reading lists. Mine is Malise Ruthvnes A Fury For God, Granta Publications, ISBN 1 86207 5409, 2002. Its mainly about the psychological and theological aspects. I have to say that it is not a light read, but well worth the effort.

What are your suggestions, please?

There was a poster session of a terrorism model, but I didnt manage to see it.

Geoff Coyle
From: "geoff coyle" <geoff.coyle@btinternet.com>

Posted: **Thu Aug 08, 2002 8:17 am**

The small book, Terrorism, the Middle East, and You, was written by my
late father-in-law, Joe E. Pierce and published in 1986. We believe
this book will be of interest to persons concerned about middle eastern
politics and terrorism. This is not a literary or scientific work, but
rather an opinion piece by an experienced professional with interesting
views (Dr. Pierce was an anthropologist).

I have a pdf version of the book which may be freely distributed for
educational purposes.

If anyone would like the pdf copy of this book please let me know.

_______________
Richard G. Dudley
drrdudley@compuserve.com
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/drrdudley
Visiting Fellow
rgd6@cornell.edu
http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages
gd6/

Posted: **Fri Aug 09, 2002 10:31 am**

Though there are many relevant and good books,
let me mention four here that get at current
thinking about terrorism. As we all know,
people use metaphors to help them understand
new topics, and there have been three basic
metaphors surrounding terrorism.

1) terrorism as a business

Peter Bergen, 2001, Holy War Inc.: Inside the
Secret World of Osama bin Laden. Free Press.

In it, Bergen argues that Al Qaeda operates
like a holding company.

2) terrorism as a network

John Arquilla & David Ronfeldt. 2001.
Networks and Netwars: The Future of Terror,
Crime, and Militancy. Rand.

Provides insights but requires more specificity.
For an interesting network study, see

Albert-Laszlo Barabasi. 2002. Linked:
The New Science of Networks. Perseus.

3) terrorism as interstate conflict recast

Qiao Liang & Wang Xiangsui. 1999. Unrestricted Warfare.
Beijing: Peoples Liberation Army Literature and Arts
Publishing (http://www.terrorism.com/documents/unrestricted.pdf).

For a good study on how modern warfare has moved away
from Clauswitzian warfare with people in uniform fighting
other people in uniform towards a more unstructured mode
of peole in uniform fighting irregulars, see

Martin Van Creveld. 1991. The Transformation of War.
Free Press.

Oops, thats five books.

Corey Lofdahl
SAIC
From: "Corey Lofdahl" <clofdahl@bos.saic.com>

Posted: **Sat Aug 10, 2002 9:48 am**

The best book Ive read on the topic is "Afghanistans Endless War," by
Larry Goodson. Goodsons chief insight is that Afghanistans breakdown is part of a
worldwide pattern far beyond the West and Islam, which he describes in
some detail. "Taliban," by Ahmed Rashid is the best of the journalistic
narratives. Peter Bergens "Holy War" is OK, too, though not quite as
good. The only book I suggest avoiding is "Bin Laden," by Yossef
Bodansky, which is a poorly written, error-laden, and transparently
polemic opus. On the more general tensions between Modernity and the West
that the rest of the world experiences, "Rethinking History" by Marshall
Hodgson is a richly thought-provoking, if densely written, classic.
Bernard Lewis "The Middle is a decent choice here, too. Ive posted
reviews to most of these at amazon.com.

Tom Lum Forest
tforest@prometheal.com

Posted: **Thu Aug 22, 2002 11:43 am**

I have added a page to my website that provides links to all the
websites that I discovered, as well as a page containing the references
used in the report. Both may be accessed at
http://groups.msn.com/TerrorDynamics/

The direct links are:
http://groups.msn.com/TerrorDynamics/te ... pinfo.msnw

http://groups.msn.com/TerrorDynamics
eferencespart1.msnw

Also I have added two files to the documents area. The direct link is:
http://groups.msn.com/TerrorDynamics/pa ... d%20Models

One file is an interview done by abcs John Miller, and the other is a
declaration made in 1996. This second file was on the internet, but
appears to have been erased completely, including from Googles cache!
While I understand the need to prevent the harmful rhetoric in his
speeches from polluting others minds, at the same time I think people
need to be more aware of what they are dealing with. So, as a compromise
I shall leave it up for a few weeks for those interested. After that you
may email for a copy.

More specifically the books I found most informative were:

Armstrong, Karen. The Battle for God. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2000.
This book provides what I found to be an excellent analysis as to how
traditionalism and fundamentalism have evolved in several religions.

Marty, Martin E., and R. Scott Appleby, eds. Fundamentalisms and the
State. Vol. 3. The Fundamentalism Project. Chicago, 1993. 462-490.
The whole fundamentalism project is really quite good, but this book in
particular provides a great deal of insight as to how fundamentalist
groups view and interact with government and the "powers that be."

Staub, Ervin. The Roots of Evil. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1989.
This was one of my favorites because it explores how groups and
governments come to commit mass murders and genocide. Something that
even the U.S. should be wary of.

Carr, Caleb. The Lessons of Terror. New York, 2002.
Kind of redundant, but clearly uncovers how terrorizing methods of
control are unsuccessful in the LONG TERM.

Alexander, Yonah, and Michael S. Swetnam. Usama bin Ladens al-Qaida:
Profile of a Terrorist Network. Ardsley: Transnational Publishers, Inc.,
2001.
This is a decent book for raw information on bin-Laden and al-Qaida, but
it is really only a compilation of all the info in government reports +
a few additional sources.

From: "Bruce Skarin" <bruceskarin@hotmail.com>

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Books on Afghanistan and Terrorism

Books on Afghanistan and Terrorism

Books on Afghanistan and Terrorism

Books on Afghanistan and Terrorism

Books on Afghanistan and Terrorism

Books on Afghanistan and Terrorism