In the 1970s, a network of extremists terrorised the West with intricately planned plane hijackings and hostage-takings. Among them were the glamorous Leila Khaled, hard-drinking Carlos the Jackal, and radical leftists of the Baader-Meinhof Gang. United by their hatred of Israel, capitalism and Western imperialism , they unleashed a series of audacious attacks that brought governments to their knees and glued the world to their tv screens. Drawing on decades of research, recently declassified government files, secret documents, and first-hand interviews with hijackers, spies, witnesses and victims, Jason Burke takes us inside these often-deadly operations. Through the perpetrators eyes and of the unrelenting agents who hunted them down he uncovers a dark, complex world of loyalty, betrayal and commitment to change at any cost.