For four years, Jessica Stern interviewed extremist members of three religions around the world: Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Traveling extensively to refugee camps in Lebanon, to religious schools in Pakistan, to prisons in Amman, Asqelon, and Pensacola she discovered that the Islamic jihadi in the mountains of Pakistan and the Christian fundamentalist bomber in Oklahoma have much in common.
Based on her vast research, Stern lucidly explains how terrorist organizations are formed by opportunistic leaders using religion as both motivation and justification to recruit the disenfranchised. She depicts how moral fervor is transformed into sophisticated organizations that strive for money, power, and attention.
Jessica Stern's extensive interaction with the faces behind the terror provide unprecedented insight into acts of inexplicable horror, and enable her to suggest how terrorism can most effectively be countered.
A crucial book on terrorism, Terror in the Name of God is a brilliant and thought-provoking work.
This audiobook was an impulse download when it showed up as a result for a completely unrelated library search. I desperately needed a new audiobook to get me through dinner prep and a quick peek at Goodreads showed that it was probably worth a listen.
This book was a perfect follow-up to Half the Sky, which I finished a few days ago. One of the things that really stood out to me was that parents in poor Middle Eastern and south Asian countries don't have state sponsored free schooling available to their children. In fact, social services of any kind are pretty much nonexistent. Militant groups often educate children and provide room and board for free. They may even provide health care as well, something that they would not otherwise have access to.
One of the terrorists Stern interviewed also bemoaned the American policy of interventionism and I actually found myself nodding in agreement. My brother wrote a paper about the USA's history of interventionism last year for a college class and it was deeply unflattering. Between his paper, Half the Sky and this book I really think the US would be better served by building schools and improving healthcare in the developing world rather than meddling in international affairs. You catch more flies with honey than vinegar, you know?
Anyway, this is a rather quick (only took a few hours listening on double speed) and super illuminating read.
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