Violence, Nonviolence, and the Palestinian National Movement. By Wendy Pearlman. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2011. 304p. $99.00.

In recent years, social scientific research on nonviolent resistance has burgeoned. Yet many studies focus on the factors associated with nonviolent movements' success or failure. In her book, Wendy Pearlman poses different questions. Instead of asking when and how nonviolence works, she asks why some activists choose nonviolent tactics while others choose violent ones. Additionally, she asks why movements may, over time, shift between armed and unarmed strategies.