The United States and Terrorism: An Ironic Perspective
Ron Hirschbein
Rowman and Littlefield, 2015
This is a deeply insightful analysis of how self-destructive and dangerous to all humanity U.S. responses to and engagements with terrorism have been. For many decades, Ron Hirschbein has been an intellectual architect of Concerned Philosophers for Peace. He asserts that the U.S. campaign against terrorism has helped produce the very violent world it was supposed to prevent. Terrorism is most widely understood as the intended infliction of violence upon noncombatants or civilians, so it is ironic that most of the Western media fail to notice that the United States and its allies have been engaged in terrorism since World War II, despite sanctimoniously condemning the terrorist actions of others. Hirschbein gives us an alternative history of the past seventy years. He unveils systematic hypocrisy in the self-understanding and self-representation of Americans who cheer on their government’s aggressions but are shocked at the violence of others, even as U.S. terrorism has predictably remained a recruiting tool for jihadists. Hirschbein’s book is indispensable for anyone trying to build a saner world. He brings wisdom, analytic clarity, and humor to this important study.
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