This book is an effort to understand the phenomenon of terrorism in a historical perspective. Because of the global breadth this necessarily entails, there is no dominating geographic center to my inquiry. By following the primary chronological pathways, we begin in the Biblical Near East and extend to Europe, the US, Latin America and Africa. The narrative and analysis of the historical evolution of terrorism as approached here will seek to clarify the conditions which have given rise to terrorism, the goals sought by those relying on its violent tactics, and the dynamics that evolved over time, leading to its becoming a permanent force in the politics of the modern world.

Terrorism is one of a number of genres of political violence, which also include war, genocide and ethnic cleansing among its main categories. All of these forms make use of violence for political reasons, but terrorism is distinguished from the others in several ways. First, it involves repeated acts of violence that create an atmosphere of fear, insecurity and mistrust in civilian society; second, it involves a dynamic interaction between groups or individuals in both government and society who choose it as a means of accomplishing specific political objectives; and third, terrorism is a response to the contestation over what constitutes legitimate authority within a territorial nation state in periods of political vulnerability.