Overview

"Now in paperback, ""Revealing, often touching interviews with six young Islamic men whose stories cast a revealing light on an exotic, unfamiliar culture....Few readers will deny that the stories illuminate the frustrations of young Islamic men living in repressive societies, alternatively fascinated and horrified by America"" (Kirkus Reviews). Imagine a world where a boy's dreams dictate the behavior of warriors in battle; where a young couple's only release from forbidden love is death; where a suicide bomber survives only to become fiercely pro-American. This is the world of Terrorists in Love."

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9781451672589

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Reviews

"""An unusual atlas of extremism -- a riveting, behind-the-scenes look at the events that turned six young Muslims into terrorists."" --""Washington Post"" """"Terrorists in Love"" shatters the dominant dispassionate treatment of modern day Islamic purveyors of death and destruction and instead offers a profoundly intimate portal into the fragile, emotional, even sexual factors that drive their behavior. Ballen blasts past the cliches about what animates terrorists and takes readers to places that no one has gone before. The profiles and revelations in this book are at times as uncomfortable as they are vital to appreciate what lies in the mind of some terrorists. I couldn't put the book down.""--Steve Clemons, Washington Editor-at-Large, ""The Atlantic ""and Senior Fellow & Founder, American Strategy Program ""A valuable, even-handed and insightful window into the mindsets and emotions of jihadi terrorists. Ballen draws a telling portrait of the human side of terrorists, from childhood traumas to moments of transformation to radicalism and, in some cases, to renunciation of terrorists cause. A compelling, if at times frightening study, one that should be read by anyone interested in the roots--and possible deterrents--of terrorism.""--Karen Greenberg, author of ""The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo's First 100 Days"" ""Ballen not only gets beneath the skin of terrorists, but all the way into their hearts, revealing unimaginable emotional and personal secrets. He has shed surprising light on the never-ending question about militant jihadis--what are they thinking? Anyone who wants to know ought to read this unusual book.""--Jane Mayer, bestselling author of ""The Dark Side"" ""Deploying techniques developed during his two decades as a prosecutor and investigator, Ken Ballen interviewed more than a hundred Islamist terrorists in depth, evincing from them their inner stories. Here he profiles six of these men, and the results are eye-opening and full of startling implications.""--Daniel Pipes, founder and president of the Middle East Forum, and author of ""Militant Islam Reaches America"" ""It's simply astonishing how much Ken Ballen, an outsider, penetrated the closed world of Islamic radicals. In a fast moving, absorbing and at times shocking narrative, Ballen destroys stereotypes and defies conventional wisdom by allowing the 'enemies' to speak for themselves. America, meet the terrorists, really for the first time. And if you find yourself in the strange position of empathizing with them, don't recoil in horror, for you might just have stumbled upon that unexpected insight that could help design a more effective response.""--Ammar Abdulhamid, former Islamic radical and leading pro-democracy activist in the Arab world ""Ken Ballen has managed the impossible for an American. He has worked his way into the intimate thoughts and frustrations and family conflicts that drove six young Muslims toward the jihadist movement, and he presents his findings in a series of compelling narratives.""--David K. Shipler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of"" Arab and Jew ""and ""The Rights of the People: How Our Search for Safety Invades Our Liberties"" ""Many authors write about terrorism. Ken Ballen took the rare step of talking directly to terrorists. If you want to understand them, read their stories, in their own words. By giving them voice, this book offers a rarely-seen glimpse into another world, the world of terrorists, not just terrorism.""--Philip Mudd, Former Deputy Director of the Counterrorism Center at the CIA, former Senior Intelligence Advisor for the FBI, and Senior Global Advisor, Oxford Analytica ""The 9/11 Commission grappled with the question of what drove the 19 hijackers to their terrorist acts in 2001, but we did not have time to investigate and fully understand their motives. Ken Ballen's exhaustive research, scores of interviews, and gripping writing make ""Terrorists in Love"" a uniquely valuable--and sometimes chilling--behind-the-scenes account of the extreme beliefs that often fuel the actions of jihadist militants.""--Lee H. Hamilton, former Congressman and Co-Chair of the 9/11 Commission ""Revealing, often touching interviews with six young Islamic men.... [Their] stories cast a revealing light on an exotic, unfamiliar culture.""--""Kirkus Reviews """

A valuable, even-handed and insightful window into the mindsets and emotions of jihadi terrorists. Ballen draws a telling portrait of the human side of terrorists, from childhood traumas to moments of transformation to radicalism and, in some cases, to renunciation of terrorists cause. A compelling, if at times frightening study, one that should be read by anyone interested in the roots--and possible deterrents--of terrorism. --Karen Greenberg, author of The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo's First 100 Days

An unusual atlas of extremism -- a riveting, behind-the-scenes look at the events that turned six young Muslims into terrorists. -- Washington Post

Author Information

Ken Ballen is president and founder of Terror Free Tomorrow, a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization that investigates the causes of extremism. He has spent nearly two decades on the frontlines of law enforcement, international relations, intelligence oversight, and congressional investigations. He lives near Washington, D.C.

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