Choice Review

This brief volume contains a general introduction, eight section introductions, and 38 chapters, which can do no more than assert the necessity for a policy of strength and plead to adopt one. It has importance because of who makes the pleas, not because of its insights or scholarly and practical value. Although the book records American and Israeli establishment views on terrorism, some fascinating items emerge. The pieces by Jeane Kirkpatrick, Eugene Rostow, Arnand de Borchgrave, and Michael Ledeen on denial of the Soviet role lead one to think these Reagan supporters were on the outside, not in. George Schultz quotes Henry Jackson that ``the idea that one person's `terrorist' is another's freedom fighter'' cannot be sanctioned, but three paragraphs later yields to political necessity, identifying the Contras as freedom fighters. Midge Decter, unwilling to accept that any terrorist may actually have a grievance, believes their actions deny their cause. Netanyahu cites the ancient Chinese saying, ``Kill one, frighten ten thousand,'' but three sentences later suggests, ``Unreported terrorist acts would be like the proverbial tree falling in the silent forest,'' laying a shaky foundation for the argument that without modern media, terrorists would be no problem. Given the space alloted to the development of themes in this volume, the reader will have to do the work if any understanding of the problem of terrorism is to come from it. Better to consult Grant Wardlaw's Political Terrorism (CH, Oct '83).-M. Stohl, Purdue University