Terrorism or A Vast Conspiracy

Terrorism

Author: Charles Townshend

This book charts a path through the outpouring of efforts to understand and explain modern terrorism, by asking what makes terrorism different from other forms of political, military action; what makes it effective; and what can be done about it. It unravels complex central questions such as whether terrorists are criminals, whether terrorism is a kind of war, what kind of threat terrorism represents, how far media publicity sustains terrorism, and whether democracy is especially vulnerable to terrorist attack. It examines the historical ideological and local roots of terrorist violence, and the success of specific terrorist and anti-terrorist campaigns in the more distant as well as the recent past.

Table of Contents:

	List of illustrations
1	The trouble with terrorism	1
2	Crusaders and conspirators	20
3	The reign of terror	36
4	Revolutionary terrorism	53
5	Nationalism and terror	74
6	Religious terror	96
7	Counterterrorism and democracy	114
	References	141
	Further reading	146
	Index	151

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A Vast Conspiracy: The Real Story of the Sex Scandal That Nearly Brought Down a President

Author: Jeffrey Toobin

In A Vast Conspiracy, the best-selling author of The Run of His Life casts an insightful, unbiased eye over the most extraordinary public saga of our time -- the Clinton sex scandals. A superlative journalist known for the skillfulness of his investigating and the power of his writing, Jeffrey Toobin tells the unlikely story of the events that began over doughnuts in a Little Rock hotel and ended on the floor of the United States Senate, with only the second vote on Presidential removal in American history. This is an entirely fresh look at the scandal that very nearly brought down a president.

Packed with news-making disclosures and secret documents published here for the first time, Toobin unravels the three strands of a national scandal - those leading from Paula Jones, Kenneth Starr, and Monica Lewinsky - that created a legal, personal, and political disaster for Bill Clinton. A Vast Conspiracy is written with the narrative drive of a sensational (if improbable) legal thriller, and Toobin brilliantly explores the high principle and low comedy that were the hallmarks of the story. From Tripp to Goldberg, Isikoff to Hyde, the complex and tangled motivations behind the scandal are laid bare.

While misguided, outlandish behavior was played out at the very highest level, Toobin analyzes the facts and the key figures with a level of dignity and insight that this story has not yet received. The Clinton scandals will shape forever how we think about the signature issues of our day -- sex and sexual harassment, privacy and perjury, civil rights, and, yes, cigars. Toobin's book will shape forever how we think about the Clinton scandals.

Time - Adam Cohen

In A Vast Conspiracy, New Yorker writer Jeffrey Toobin retells the whole tale with gusto.

Entertainment Weekly

A real page-turner...blunt, sardonic, often morbidly funny.

USA Today

A well-written, profoundly rational analysis...Toobin's book possesses fresh insights.

New York Daily News

An irresistibly readable new overview of the whole ugly case.

Detroit Free Press

Toobin's book is literate, well-researched, penetrating and evenhanded, laying blame where it belongs, offering a reasonable perspective on this shabby case.

Boston Globe

A gripping and colorful account of the crime and trial that captured the world's attention.

New York Times Book Review

His prose is fluent, direct and supple, his assessments pithy and succinct....He uses his legal expertise to assess defense and prosecution strategies, highlight crucial developments and sketch in the background of principle players in such a way that the stories create a mosaic of life.

San Francisco Chronicle

What makes the book both important and entertaining is the way [Toobin] fills in the gaps left by more partisan authors.

The New York Times Book Review - Powers

[An] admirably clear, vigorously written, plain-spoken and common-sensical book...Toobin's strength lies in his ability to chart a clear narrative line through tangled cases . . . The main and considerable pleasure of his book comes from watching the astonishing story unfold so it makes sense.

The New York Observer - Floyd Abrams

Where were you when President Clinton was impeached? Or when he was acquitted? Can you believe that you've not only forgotten, but that the whole ugly thing ended just a year ago?Jeffrey Toobin recalls it all, and inA Vast Conspiracy, a superlatively researched and written book, lays it out. There is only one hero in this book–Judge Susan Webber Wright, the jurist who dismissed the Paula Jones case and later held Mr. Clinton in contempt, stands alone as "an isolated beacon of sanity in the darkness." The remainder of the dramatis personae in the impeachment saga are deliciously skewered by Mr. Toobin... Mr. Toobin's portrayal of the President is far more nuanced than what most commentators have offered.

The Economist

Mr. Toobin's book is a brave one...Clear sightedness is this book's main virtue...Mr. Toobin tells the tale with such pace and clarity that his book is a good read despite itself.