Hunting Terrorists ― A Look at the Psychopathology of Terror

Writing for law enforcement professionals, the author (a former special agent and supervisor with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation) presents a primer on how to recognize and identify terrorists and how to use that information in terrorism investigations. Following a brief history of terrorism and the presentation of a terrorist typology, he combines his own investigative experience with a psychological approach and lays out what he argues are the five principal co-morbid pathologies of terrorists--uncompromising ideology, irreconcilable fear, passionate hatred, prescribed violence, and functional isolation--and discusses how these translate into observable behaviors that investigators can learn to recognize. Finally, he suggests ways in which investigators can use their knowledge of the terrorist personality to properly conduct investigative interviews. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)