Description
Book SynopsisAn insightful study of how identity is mobilized in and for war in the face of homegrown terrorism.
You are either with us, or against us is the refrain that captures the spirit of the global war on terror. Images of the them implied in this war crydistinct foreign othersinundate Americans on hit television shows, Hollywood blockbusters, and nightly news. However, in this book, Piotr Szpunar tells the story of a fuzzier image: the homegrown terrorist, a foe that blends into the crowd, who Americans are told looks, talks, and acts like us.
Homegrown delves into the dynamics of domestic counterterrorism, revealing the complications that arise when the terrorist threat involves Americans, both residents and citizens, who have taken up arms against their own country. Szpunar examines the ways in which identities are blurred in the war on terror, amid debates concerning who is the real terrorist. He considers cases ranging from the white supremacist Sikh Temple s
Trade Review
Cases in which terrorists are residents or citizens of the targeted country (‘homegrown’ terrorists) complicate the dominant perception of terrorists as malevolent foreigners, says Szpunar. He looks at how issues of identity intersect with received understandings of terrorism and how to fight it, using case studies such as the Boston Marathon bombing. -- Survival
