A Faceless Enemy: The Origins of Modern Terrorism

By Glenn Schweitzer

Book Overview

Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network is only one of hundreds of terrorist organizations around the world. Others wait for their own cues to follow similar scripts for using modern technologies to terrorize vulnerable populations. In A Faceless Enemy, Glenn Schweitzer provides a sweeping history of the technologies that are at the heart of this new and deadly terrorism and gives us a fuller understanding of the relationships between terrorists and drug traffickers, the potential threat of cyberterrorism, and the now very tangible risks posed by bioterrorism and chemoterrorism. Based on the authors' long careers in science and international politics, and drawing upon interviews with diplomats and intelligence operatives around the globe, A Faceless Enemy is a must-read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the complex issues related to terrorism and the future of international security.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0738207578
• ISBN13: 9780738207575
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.0" x 9.0"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

An increasingly relevant warning of the dangers to come

A Faceless Enemy first appeared in 1998, predicting high-impact terrorist attacks on America in the near future and even pinpointing the potentials of anthrax as a mail device. In the wake of September 11th its message is even more frightening as author Glenn E. Schweitzer's considers other possible scenarios of modern terrorism and the potential big-money interests which could finance them overseas. A new prologue for this edition of A Faceless Enemy adds impact and power to an increasingly relevant warning of the dangers to come.

Not as informative as I"d Hoped

While the book is prophehtic and contains some little known facts much of the informtion in this book is common knowledge to the well informed. It often seemed to me to be a recitation of facts collected elsewhere and while the authors warnings and recommendations are extraordinary considering when the book was written. It comes off flat and uninteresting.For those less informed on the subject it's highly recommened for those looking for even deeper information I don't recommend it.Additionally the book does little to actually discuss the origins of terrorism as the title indicates. It is more about the possabilities today and the cross breeding of narco-crime and terrorism.

An Important and Prophetic Book

This book was written in 1998, with a new preface written after September 11. The author's urgency about the threat of "superterrorism" on American soil was based on his extensive worldwide experience with a variety of international organizations. His comments on everything from profiling of airline passengers to the dangers of attacks of anthrax and weapons of mass destruction now seem eerily prophetic. At the same time, it is amazing in retrospect that al-Qaeda is not mentioned once in the entire volume, nor is Osama bin Laden -- a clear indication of how little attention we were paying to some very ominous developments in the 1990s. In this regard, the author's government experience and perspective is very instructive, and less reassuring. His sense of confidence about our intelligence and law enforcement capabilities seems based largely on how much money we spend and how many international forums we participate in, rather than on the difficult and dirty business of in-country military and intelligence action. Frequent references to the author's own extensive and fascinating experiences, particulary in the former Soviet Union, make an otherwise 'academic' study very readable. This important book -- perhaps inadvertantly -- is an excellent guide to both the strengths and the weaknesses of official governmental and international efforts to track and prosecute terrorism.