There's nothing like an engaging book to help you pass a dreary afternoon. It's even better when the story is filled with action, adventure and intrigue. For truly gripping reading, you can't go wrong with terrorism fiction.
Terrorism is very hard to define. It usually involves using violence to create fear, in order to bring about political or ideological changes. The group or person acts independently from governmental entities like the national military. However, who is labeled a terrorist often depends on your point of view. Some people argue that many terrorist groups are in fact liberation armies.
Novels with espionage as theme are often great sources of stories about terrorists. Tom Clancy, for instance, is best known for his series of novels where the main character is Jack Ryan, a secret agent in the United States. Ryan often has to stop terrorists in a day's work, like in 'Patriot Games' as well as 'The Sum of all Fears'.
Throughout history, female terrorists captured the imagination. This was especially the case when these women were beautiful, like Leila Khaled, a famous Palestinian airplane hijacker active in the late Sixties. John le Carre's novel 'The Little Drummer Girl' features an actress who becomes a terrorist and double agent in the struggle for Palestinian liberation and it was made into a hit movie featuring Diane Keaton.
Palestinian liberation has often been a motive for acts of terror, as was the situation in Northern Ireland. The most well-known organization in Ireland to be accused of terrorism was the Irish Republican Army. Their violent acts have inspired many writers too, including Jack Higgins, author of 'A Prayer Before Dying'.
A very gripping book about terrorism is 'An Act of Terror'. Translated from the Afrikaans, it's South African writer Andre Brink's account of the life of a young Afrikaans-speaking photographer who is involved in a botched attempt at a terrorist action and has to flee across the country. It is set in apartheid South Africa, when liberation movements were banned and usually called terrorists.
From the late Sixties to the Early Eighties, there were many extreme left-wing groups in Europe and the United States who engaged in terrorist activities to raise awareness of causes like Palestinian independence. In West Germany, for instance, the Baader-Meinhof Group, officially known as the Red Army Faction, gripped the public's imagination while in America the Symbionese Liberation Army was on everyone's lips when Patty Hearst, a socialite and heiress, joined them after they had kidnapped her. Some of these groups were really just amateurs, like the one described in Doris Lessing's fascinating 'The Good Terrorist' about such a group in the United Kingdom.
Terrorism fiction is a gripping sub-genre that can keep finding new inspiration with the War on Terror still going strong. A good library or bookstore can be a good place to look for one of these books but you'll also be able to order some novels online. With such thrilling reading to be done, you'll want to hide away by turning off the phone and your email and just escape into another world.
Terrorism is very hard to define. It usually involves using violence to create fear, in order to bring about political or ideological changes. The group or person acts independently from governmental entities like the national military. However, who is labeled a terrorist often depends on your point of view. Some people argue that many terrorist groups are in fact liberation armies.
Novels with espionage as theme are often great sources of stories about terrorists. Tom Clancy, for instance, is best known for his series of novels where the main character is Jack Ryan, a secret agent in the United States. Ryan often has to stop terrorists in a day's work, like in 'Patriot Games' as well as 'The Sum of all Fears'.
Throughout history, female terrorists captured the imagination. This was especially the case when these women were beautiful, like Leila Khaled, a famous Palestinian airplane hijacker active in the late Sixties. John le Carre's novel 'The Little Drummer Girl' features an actress who becomes a terrorist and double agent in the struggle for Palestinian liberation and it was made into a hit movie featuring Diane Keaton.
Palestinian liberation has often been a motive for acts of terror, as was the situation in Northern Ireland. The most well-known organization in Ireland to be accused of terrorism was the Irish Republican Army. Their violent acts have inspired many writers too, including Jack Higgins, author of 'A Prayer Before Dying'.
A very gripping book about terrorism is 'An Act of Terror'. Translated from the Afrikaans, it's South African writer Andre Brink's account of the life of a young Afrikaans-speaking photographer who is involved in a botched attempt at a terrorist action and has to flee across the country. It is set in apartheid South Africa, when liberation movements were banned and usually called terrorists.
From the late Sixties to the Early Eighties, there were many extreme left-wing groups in Europe and the United States who engaged in terrorist activities to raise awareness of causes like Palestinian independence. In West Germany, for instance, the Baader-Meinhof Group, officially known as the Red Army Faction, gripped the public's imagination while in America the Symbionese Liberation Army was on everyone's lips when Patty Hearst, a socialite and heiress, joined them after they had kidnapped her. Some of these groups were really just amateurs, like the one described in Doris Lessing's fascinating 'The Good Terrorist' about such a group in the United Kingdom.
Terrorism fiction is a gripping sub-genre that can keep finding new inspiration with the War on Terror still going strong. A good library or bookstore can be a good place to look for one of these books but you'll also be able to order some novels online. With such thrilling reading to be done, you'll want to hide away by turning off the phone and your email and just escape into another world.
