Search results for ""Author Jeffrey D. Simon""

The bombings of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and of the World Trade Center in New York City have joined a long history of terrorists acts against the United States. In this newly updated edition of his book, Jeffrey Simon reaches back to the founding days of the Republic to tell a story that is both instructive and alarming. Simon uncovers the dynamics of a deadly conflict that affects all Americans. His in-depth interviews with terrorists and their victims, with reporters, government officials, and others bring to life a tale of presidents and terrorists, media and society, all entangled in a drama of international violence.The Terrorist Trap traces the government response to terrorism from the days of Thomas Jefferson and the Barbary Pirates to William Jefferson Clinton's confrontation with homegrown terrorism. It explores the terrorist trap: the psychological, political, and social elements that make terrorism unlike any other conflict. With the end of the Cold War and the defeat of Saddam Hussein's army in the Gulf War, many believed that the threat of terrorism had been significantly reduced. But Simon shows how terrorism grows out of political, economic, and social grievances that can never befully resolved, as events in Israel and elsewhere continue to demonstrate. Living with terrorism will be an inescapable part of life in the twenty-first century. Simon calls on officials to move away from the useless rhetoric of defeating terrorism and to focus instead on achievable goals in combating this global problem.

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America in the early twentieth century was rife with threats. Organized crime groups like The Mafia, German spies embedded behind enemy lines ahead of World War I, package bombs sent throughout the country, and the 1920 Wall Street bombing dominated headlines. Yet the story of the one man tasked with combatting these threats has yet to be told. The Life and Times of William J. Flynn is the first book to tell the story of William J. Flynn, the first government official to bring down the powerful Mafia, uncover a sophisticated German spy ring in the United States, and launch a formal war on terrorism. As the Director of the Bureau of Investigation (the forerunner to the FBI), Flynn would become one of the most respected and effective law enforcement officials in American history.Long before Eliot Ness and the Untouchables went after Al Capone and the Italian mob in Chicago, Flynn dismantled the first Mafia family to exist in America. The success against the Mafia made Flynn famous, with front-page stories about him in newspapers across the country. His rise through the ranks was swift. As Chief of the Secret Service (then an organization devoted to intelligence rather than protecting the president), Flynn, nicknamed “the Bulldog” for his tenacity in pursuing leads, again won national acclaim when he uncovered a sophisticated German sabotage campaign in the United States on the eve of American entry into World War I. As the Director of the Bureau of Investigation, Flynn would devise the first counterterrorist strategy in U.S. history in his investigation of the anarchist terrorists leaving bombs across the country. He would also appoint an ambitious library clerk named J. Edgar Hoover to the Bureau’s newly created Radical Division. Flynn’s distinguished career came to an inglorious end, however, when he was unable to find the perpetrators of the infamous Wall Street bombing in September 1920. He never again returned to government service, instead turning to editing a detective fiction magazine called Flynn’s that became one of the most popular magazine publications of its time. In this riveting and well-researched biography, the first devoted to the man who became one of this country’s greatest detectives, author and terrorism expert Jeffrey D. Simon reveals the fascinating, exciting, and at times tragic story of William J. Flynn.

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From Anders Breivik in Norway, who murdered scores of young people in a bombing and mass-shooting attack, to Omar Mateen, the Orlando killer who perpetrated the worst mass shooting in American history, lone wolves have demonstrated that they can be as dangerous as organized terrorist groups. Who are these terrorists and what can be done about them? An internationally renowned terrorism expert presents the first comprehensive treatment of this important issue. After delving into the diversity in motivations and backgrounds of lone wolf terrorists, Simon makes the following key points about this growing threat: lone wolves have proven to be more creative and dangerous than many terrorist groups; lone wolves are not just Islamist extremists but can be found among all types of political and religious ideologies; the Internet has provided the perfect breeding ground for isolated individuals with terrorist tendencies, but it may also prove to be their undoing; there are few women in this category, but this is likely to change in the coming years; and the common perception that nothing can be done about lone wolves is wrong. In fact, innovative strategies and policies can be developed to both prevent and respond to this type of terrorism. Drawing on his more than twenty-five years of experience studying terrorism, Simon has produced an insightful book that is essential reading for anyone concerned about the potential terrorist threats from violence-prone individuals in our midst.This paperback edition contains a new preface by the author, which reviews lone-wolf incidents since the publication of the original edition.

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