The Invention of Terrorism in Europe, Russia, and the United States

The Invention of Terrorism examines key cases of terrorist violence to show that the invention of terrorism was linked to the birth of modernity in Europe, Russia and the United States, rather than to Tsarist despotism in nineteenth century Russia or to Islam sects in Medieval Persia. Combining a highly readable historical narrative with analysis of larger issues in social and political history, Carola Dietze argues that the dissemination of news about terrorist violence was at the core of a strategy aimed to politically impact rulers as well as the general public. Dietze’s lucid account also reveals how the spread of knowledge about terrorist acts was, from the outset, a transatlantic process. Using case studies from France, the United States, Germany and Russia, Dietze shows that terrorism has existed as a tactic since the 1850s and has essentially only been adapted through the use of new technologies and methods.