Political Assassins, Terrorists and Related Conspiracies in American History

Political Assassins, Terrorists and Related Conspiracies in American History
Author: Scott Johnson
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 407
Release: 2020-11-19
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9781476683935

Political assassinations and terrorism have both outraged and fascinated the public throughout American history, particularly in the modern era. Providing biographical summaries of more than 100 assassins and terrorists, this book aims at a more complete understanding of the motivations behind violent extremism. The lives of the subjects are analyzed with a focus on psychological and ideological factors, along with details of investigations and criminal trials. Conspiracy theories are evaluated for credibility. Social media features prominently in explaining political violence by members of extremist groups in the 21st century, including radical Islamic terrorists, anti-abortion activists and white supremacists.

Political Assassins, Terrorists and Related Conspiracies in American History

Political Assassins, Terrorists and Related Conspiracies in American History
Author: Scott P. Johnson
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 418
Release: 2020-11-11
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1476642036

Political assassinations and terrorism have both outraged and fascinated the public throughout American history, particularly in the modern era. Providing biographical summaries of more than 100 assassins and terrorists, this book aims at a more complete understanding of the motivations behind violent extremism. The lives of the subjects are analyzed with a focus on psychological and ideological factors, along with details of investigations and criminal trials. Conspiracy theories are evaluated for credibility. Social media features prominently in explaining political violence by members of extremist groups in the 21st century, including radical Islamic terrorists, anti-abortion activists and white supremacists.

Terrorism and Transatlantic Relations

Terrorism and Transatlantic Relations
Author: Klaus Larres
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 272
Release: 2021-11-27
Genre: History
ISBN: 303083347X

This book explores the development of transatlantic policy on international terrorism and assesses the situation today. It takes an interdisciplinary approach to terrorism and transatlantic relations, bringing together experts from contemporary history, political science, military strategy, psychology, law and security. Looking back to the roots of modern terrorism, from the late 70s to 9/11 and beyond, the volume evaluates how attitudes and approaches have changed over this period. It analyses potential solutions for finding a shared philosophy to counter the threat of transnational terrorism in the US and Europe, against a rapidly changing political landscape. Chapters cover a range of topics, including the psychology of terrorism, online propaganda, domestic terrorism, terrorism and finance and cyber security.

Crimes Committed by Terrorist Groups

Crimes Committed by Terrorist Groups
Author: Mark S. Hamm
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2011
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1437929591

This is a print on demand edition of a hard to find publication. Examines terrorists¿ involvement in a variety of crimes ranging from motor vehicle violations, immigration fraud, and mfg. illegal firearms to counterfeiting, armed bank robbery, and smuggling weapons of mass destruction. There are 3 parts: (1) Compares the criminality of internat. jihad groups with domestic right-wing groups. (2) Six case studies of crimes includes trial transcripts, official reports, previous scholarship, and interviews with law enforce. officials and former terrorists are used to explore skills that made crimes possible; or events and lack of skill that the prevented crimes. Includes brief bio. of the terrorists along with descriptions of their org., strategies, and plots. (3) Analysis of the themes in closing arguments of the transcripts in Part 2. Illus.

Enemies Within

Enemies Within
Author: Robert Alan Goldberg
Publisher: Yale University Press
Total Pages: 368
Release: 2008-10-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 0300132948

divdivThere is a hunger for conspiracy news in America. Hundreds of Internet websites, magazines, newsletters, even entire publishing houses, disseminate information on invisible enemies and their secret activities, subversions, and coverups. Those who suspect conspiracies behind events in the news—the crash of TWA Flight 800, the death of Marilyn Monroe—join generations of Americans, from the colonial period to the present day, who have entertained visions of vast plots. In this enthralling book Robert Goldberg focuses on five major conspiracy theories of the past half-century, examining how they became widely popular in the United States and why they have remained so. In the post–World War II decades conspiracy theories have become more numerous, more commonly believed, and more deeply embedded in our culture, Goldberg contends. He investigates conspiracy theories regarding the Roswell UFO incident, the Communist threat, the rise of the Antichrist, the assassination of President John Kennedy, and the Jewish plot against black America, in each case taking historical, social, and political environments into account. Conspiracy theories are not merely the products of a lunatic fringe, the author shows. Rather, paranoid rhetoric and thinking are disturbingly central in America today. With media validation and dissemination of conspiracy ideas, and federal government behavior that damages public confidence and faith, the ground is fertile for conspiracy thinking. /DIV/DIV

The History of Terrorism

The History of Terrorism
Author: Gérard Chaliand
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 536
Release: 2016-08-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 0520292502

First published in English in 2007 under title: The history of terrorism: from antiquity to al Qaeda.

Wolves, Jackals, and Foxes

Wolves, Jackals, and Foxes
Author: Kris Hollington
Publisher: Macmillan
Total Pages: 460
Release: 2008-08-05
Genre: History
ISBN: 1429986808

"A history of the twentieth century punctuated by gunshots. . . . An exciting account." --Sunday Telegraph (UK) Exploding telephones, pipe-guns, bullets made of teeth, aspirin explosives, cobra-venom darts, a rifle that shoots around corners, exploding clams, samurai swords, karate chops, poisoned umbrellas, and a fuel-laden light aircraft. Sometimes even a regular gun. These are just some of the methods that have been used over the last ?fty years to speed four thousand VIPs to a premature end. Wolves, Jackals, and Foxes is not an encyclopedia of assassination but rather a gripping history that charts the development of the modern world through the eyes of the assassins that tried to alter it. An experienced investigative reporter, Kris Hollington exposes shocking unknown stories of assassination. Surprising conspiracies and remarkable connections are uncovered throughout. Hollington relates the story of the man who shot Uday Hussein seventeen times, the remarkable career of the CIA's "black sorcerer," reveals how an East German Stasi agent, an American B-movie actress, and a Saudi prince conspired to commit one of the most important assassinations of the twentieth century, uncovers the terrible history of South Africa's brutal assassination squad and exposes for the ?rst time the secret society that ensured racist assassins in the South never paid for their crimes. It also features previously classi?ed information from the Secret Service, including the story of how President Jimmy Carter was saved from a sniper's bullet by a rabid swamp rabbit. This book is the first to study in detail not only the causes and surprising consequences of assassination, but also the crucial seconds of the act itself and the psychology of the killer in an effort to understand why some assassinations succeed where others fail---and what might be done to prevent them. It is also the ?rst book to examine the fascinating facts and ?gures of assassination, revealing everything from the success rate by type of weapon and the escape and survival rates of assassins to the most popular time of year and location for an attack. The definitive book on assassination, Wolves, Jackals, and Foxes shows that sometimes, one murder can change the world.

Defining Danger

Defining Danger
Author:
Publisher: Transaction Publishers
Total Pages: 447
Release: 2012-01-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1412845904

Since 1789, when George Washington became the first president of the United States, forty-three men have held the nation's highest office. Four were killed by assassins,and serious attempts were made on the lives of eight others.Add to that list Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X,and it is reasonable to conclude that political prominence in the U.S. entails grave risks. In Defining Danger, James W. Clarke explores the cultural and psychological linkages that define assassinations and a new era of domestic terrorism in America. Clarke notes an upsurge in political violence beginning with the assassination of John F. Kennedy in 1963. Since then, there have been ten assassination attempts on nationally prominent political leaders. That is two more than the eight recorded in the previous 174 years of the nation's presidential history. New elements of domestic terror in American life were introduced in the 1990s by Timothy McVeigh, the “Oklahoma City Bomber,” Ted Kaczynski, the “Unabomber,” and Eric Rudolph, the abortion clinic bomber. These men were politically motivated; their crimes were unprecedented. These events and the perpetrators behind them are among the subjects of this book. Defining Danger conveys two central themes. The first is that individual acts of violence directed toward America's democratically elected leaders represent a defining element of American politics. The second addresses how danger is defined, through an analysis of the motives and characteristics of twenty-one perpetrators responsible for these acts of political violence where shots were fired, or bombs detonated, and in most instances, victims died. The book is written in an accessible and engaging style that will appeal to the informed general reader, as well as to professionals in a variety of fields—especially in the wake of recent events and the specter of future violence that, sadly, haunts us all.