On July 22, 2011, Anders Behring Breivik detonated a car bomb in
downtown Oslo, Norway. He didn't stop there, traveling several hours
from the city to ambush a youth camp while the rest of Norway was
distracted by his earlier attack. That's where the facts end. But what
motivated him? Did he have help staging the attacks? The evidence
suggests a startling truth: that this was the work of one man, pursuing a
mission he was convinced was just.
If Breivik did indeed act
alone, he wouldn't be the first. Timothy McVeigh bombed a federal
building in Oklahoma City based essentially on his own motivations. Eric
Robert Rudolph embarked on a campaign of terror over several years,
including the Centennial Park bombing at the 1996 Olympics. Ted
Kaczynski was revealed to be the Unabomber that same year. And these are
only the most notable examples. As George Michael demonstrates in Lone Wolf Terror and the Rise of Leaderless Resistance, they are not isolated cases. Rather, they represent the new way warfare will be conducted in the twenty-first century.
Lone Wolf Terror
investigates the motivations of numerous political and ideological
elements, such as right-wing individuals, eco-extremists, foreign
jihadists, and even quasi-governmental entities. In all these cases,
those carrying out destructive acts operate as "lone wolves" and small
cells, with little or no connection to formal organizations. Ultimately,
Michael suggests that leaderless resistance has become the most common
tactical approach of political terrorists in the West and elsewhere.
Hardcover, 264 pages
“From
the ancient strategies of Sun Tzu to the activities of contemporary ‘leaderless’
jihadists, George Michael has provided a richly detailed, timely, and
fascinating account of the evolution of lone wolf terrorism and the development
of a so-called fifth generation of warfare.”
--Darren Mulloy,
Wilfrid Laurier University, author of American Extremism
“The topic of
leaderless resistance/lone wolf terrorism is certainly a significant issue at
the present time to both policy makers and academics. . . A comprehensive
scholarly overview of most of the significant theories and research on
terrorism.”
--Christopher Hewitt,
author of Understanding Terrorism in America
“As globalization
continues to process a lot of populist anger over injustices--both perceived
and real--stemming from its rapid expansion into traditional cultures, the
world is going to suffer a lot more of the ‘leaderless’ terrorism that Michael
explores in this wonderfully evenhanded book. Those hunting for solutions--in
addition to the 'bad guys'--would do well to add this to their reading list.”
--Thomas P. M. Barnett,
Chief Analyst, Wikistrat
“George Michael’s
readable, well-researched, and theoretically informed book probes the vital
question of the shape that violent non-state actors will take as we move into
an era of government austerity and a general weakening of the nation-state,
even as technological advances may allow individuals or small groups to carry
out unprecedented levels of violence. An important contribution to our
understanding of a problem that will unfortunately continue to bedevil us.”
--Daveed
Gartenstein-Ross, author of Bin Laden's Legacy
“In this important
book, strategist George Michael argues that there has been ‘a shift from
terrorism by organized groups to terrorism by unaffiliated individuals’ and
draws the implications of this epochal change. He does so by placing this
development in the history of modern warfare, surveying the leaderless
resistance phenomenon, and persuasively warning about the danger of lone wolves
who engage in terrorism ‘on their own initiative with no traditional
command-and-control hierarchy.’”
--Daniel Pipes,
author of Militant Islam Reaches America