Curtis Bowman

Michael Young Reviews Paul Berman's "The Flight of the Intellectuals"

Michael Young reviews Paul Berman's The Flight of the Intellectuals.

Paul Berman on the Persistence of Radical Islam

Paul Berman, author of Terror and Liberalism, explains why radical Islam won't be going away anytime soon.

Gershom Gale Reviews Aaron Klein's "Schmoozing With Terrorists"

Gershom Gale reviews Aaron Klein's Schmoozing With Terrorists: From Hollywood to the Holy Land, Jihadists Reveal Their Global Plans -- to a Jew!.

Peter Bergen on President Bush's War on Terror

Peter Bergen chronicles President Bush's major missteps in the war on terror, beginning with Osama bin Laden's escape from Tora Bora and continuing up to Al Qaeda's recent resurgence.

David A. Bell on John Mueller's "Overblown"

If you go to the TNR Open University blog, you'll see that David A. Bell has posted a brief look at John Mueller's Overblown: How Politicians and the Terrorism Industry Inflate National Security Threats, and Why We Believe Them.

Mueller's book is likely to be one of many interesting books on terrorism that I simply won't have time to read. A few weeks ago I blogged about his views in two different posts — here and here. Those posts will first take you to an article that Mr. Mueller wrote for Foreign Affairs and then to a roundtable discussion of his views.

Jonathan Rauch on James Bowman's "Honor: A History"

Jonathan Rauch discusses James Bowman's Honor: A History, focussing on how the concept of honor can be used to understand terrorism and the politics of the Middle East.

Two year ago I posted a very critical response to something that Bowman wrote in response to the NEA study Reading at Risk. Since then I've regarded him as little more than a right-wing hack. But Rauch's article clearly indicates that Bowman's book is worth reading, and since I respect Rauch, I should relent and give Bowman a second chance.

NIE on Jihadism and the War in Iraq

Perhaps you've been reading about the National Intelligence Estimate from April 2006 that claims that the war in Iraq has made matters worse for the United States in its war on terror. If you haven't heard about it yet, I recommend this round-up of articles by Tom Regan of The Christian Science Monitor as well as this daily analysis by Eben Kaplan of the Council on Foreign Relations.

When the story broke, the NIE was still classified. The key judgments of the report are now declassified. If you go to this page on the CFR website, you'll see a link to a PDF (66 KB).

Roundtable Discussion of John Mueller's "Is There Still a Terrorist Threat?"

Three weeks ago I blogged an article by John Mueller entitled "Is There Still a Terrorist Threat?" It's definitely worth a close reading.

In short, Mueller argues that if al-Qaeda wanted to strike the United States in some fashion, it could have done so fairly easily by now. So the absence of an attack is an indication that there are no foreign terrorists in the United States, and that they aren't inclined (or perhaps aren't able) to make their way here to carry out attacks.

Anyway, I see that Foreign Affairs, which published Mueller's article, is sponsoring a roundtable discussion of Mueller's views.

Peter Bergen on the Causes of 9/11

Peter Bergen, who knows a thing or two about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, summarizes the causes of 9/11.

Peter Grier Reviews Louise Richardson's "What Terrorists Want"

Peter Grier of The Christian Science Monitor reviews Louise Richardson's What Terrorists Want: Understanding the Enemy, Containing the Threat.