This scathing critique of U.S. political culture is a brilliant analysis of the Iran-contra scandal. Chomsky offers a message of hope, reminding us that resistance is possible, necessary, and effective.

Although the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 shocked the world, America has confronted terrorism at home for well over a century. With the invention of dynamite in 1866, Americans began to worry about anonymous acts of mass violence in a way that differed from previous generations' fears of urban riots, slave uprisings, and mob violence. Focusing on the volatile period between the 1886 Haymarket bombing and the 1920 bombing outside J. P. Morgan's Wall Street office, Jeffory Clymer argues that economic and cultural displacements caused by the expansion of industrial capitalism directly influenced evolving ideas about terrorism. In America's Culture of Terrorism, Clymer uncovers the roots of American terrorism and its impact on American identity by exploring the literary works of Henry James, Ida B. Wells, Jack London, Thomas Dixon, and Covington Hall, as well as trial transcripts, media reports, and the cultural rhetoric surrounding terrorist acts of the day. He demonstrates that the rise of mass media and the pressures of the industrial wage-labor economy both fueled the development of terrorism and shaped society's response to it. His analysis not only sheds new light on American literature and culture a century ago but also offers insights into the contemporary understanding of terrorism.

“Perhaps the most widely read voice on foreign policy on the planet” breaks down the Iran-Contra Affair and the scourge of clandestine terrorism (The New York Times Book Review on Theory and Practice). This classic text provides a scathing critique of US political culture through a brilliant analysis of the Iran-Contra scandal. Chomsky irrefutably shows how the United States has opposed human rights and democratization to advance its economic interests. “The Culture of Terrorism follows an earlier study, Turning the Tide, but with the new insights provided by the flawed Congressional inquiry into the Irangate scandal. [Chomsky’s] thesis is that United States elites are dedicated to the rule of force, and that their commitment to violence and lawlessness has to be masked by an ideological system which attempts to control and limit the domestic damage done when the mask occasionally slips. Clandestine programs are not a secret to their victims, as he points out. It is the domestic population in the USA which needs to be protected from knowledge of them . . . The record, he argues, shows a continual pattern of violence and disregard for democracy.” ―Manchester Guardian Weekly “Chomsky’s documentation neatly supports his logic. Leftist adherents will applaud, while the majority—depicted as perpetrators or dupes of military-based state capitalism—will ignore the book or dismiss it as rhetoric. But Chomsky has a point of view not frequently encountered in the press.” —Library Journal “Closely argued, heavily documented . . . will shake liberals and conservatives alike.” ―Publishers Weekly

The Oxford Handbook of Terrorism systematically integrates the substantial body of scholarship on terrorism and counterterrorism before and after 9/11. In doing so, it introduces scholars and practitioners to state of the art approaches, methods, and issues in studying and teaching these vital phenomena. This Handbook goes further than most existing collections by giving structure and direction to the fast-growing but somewhat disjointed field of terrorism studies. The volume locates terrorism within the wider spectrum of political violence instead of engaging in the widespread tendency towards treating terrorism as an exceptional act. Moreover, the volume makes a case for studying terrorism within its socio-historical context. Finally, the volume addresses the critique that the study of terrorism suffers from lack of theory by reviewing and extending the theoretical insights contributed by several fields - including political science, political economy, history, sociology, anthropology, criminology, law, geography, and psychology. In doing so, the volume showcases the analytical advancements and reflects on the challenges that remain since the emergence of the field in the early 1970s.

A fundamentally new interpretation of the emergence of modern terrorism, arguing that it formed in the Russian literary imagination well before any shot was fired or bomb exploded.

In response to the events following September 11, a number of leading cultural studies and interpretive qualitative researchers write from their own experiences and hearts. Their essays—by noted scholars Kellner, Fine, McLaren, Richardson, Denzin, Giroux and others—are collected in this volume, and were written in crisis within days and weeks of September 11. The immediacy of their writing is refreshing, and reflects the varied emotional and critical responses that bring meaning to this cataclysmal event. From the poetic to the personal, the theoretical to the historical, these contributions represent intelligent and reflective responses to crises like 9/11. This unique collection of essays represents a selfless act of sharing by poets and professors who tell us how they made sense of these tragic events, and predicts what the place of the humanities and the social sciences might hold in an age of terror. Lachrymal and elegiac, their words will stay with us for years to come. The articles were originally published in the journals Qualitative Inquiry and Cultural Studies/Critical Methodologies.

Taking a critical look at the politics of American culture in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks, contributors offer a multi-disciplinary approach in their examination of how our existing cultural patterns, have shaped our response to it.