The Mind of the Terrorist The Psychology of Terrorism from the IRA to al-Qaeda

In contrast to the widely held assumption that terrorists are crazed fanatics, Jerrold Post demonstrates they are psychologically "normal" and that "hatred has been bred in the bone". He reveals the powerful motivations that drive these ordinary people to such extraordinary evil by exploring the different types of terrorists, from national-separatists such as the Irish Republican Army to social revolutionary terrorists such as the Shining Path, as well as religious extremists like al-Qaeda and Aum Shinrikyo. InThe Mind of the Terrorist, Post uses his expertise to explain how the terrorist mind works and how this information can help us to combat terrorism more effectively.

Jerrold M. Post is an internationally recognized expert on terrorist psychology and a professor of Psychiatry, Political Psychology & International Affairs at the George Washington University. He came to GW after a 21 year career with the Central Intelligence Agency, where in his role as Founding Director of the Center for the Analysis of Personality and Political Behavior he initiated the U.S. government research program on the psychology of terrorism in the late 1970s.