| 50-5209 | HV6432 | 2012-20138 CIP | | Social & Behavioral Sciences History, Geography & Area Studies North America | | Martinez, J. Michael. Terrorist attacks on American soil: from the Civil War era to the present. Rowman & Littlefield, 2012. 475p bibl index afp; ISBN 9781442203235, $55.00; ISBN 9781442203242 e-book, $54.99. Reviewed in 2013may CHOICE. | | Martinez (Kennesaw State Univ.) has produced a pithy, highly readable analysis of selected terrorist attacks in the US since the Civil War era. The author notes that he does not intend his book to be an exhaustive history of terrorism, but rather a representative sampling of some of the major incidents of the last 150 years. His stated purpose is to examine some of the common characteristics found in these past terrorist attacks in order not only to better understand them, but also to draw useful lessons for modern students of terrorism. Each chapter examines a particular incident and then provides some analysis as to whether or not the incident even qualifies as terrorism, based on selected criteria. While Martinez acknowledges that there is no magic formula to identify terrorism, he does provide a very useful conceptual framework for studying the phenomenon and its impact on US history. Summing Up: Recommended. General readers, lower-division undergraduates, upper-division undergraduates. — C. G. Frentzos, Austin Peay State University |
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