Books in Brief: A Time of Terror

A Time of Terror: How Democratic Societies Respond to Revolutionary Terror, by J. Bowyer Bell (Basic, 292 pp., $10.95). Bell presents a plea for moderation in dealing with the critical problem of terrorism, and the result is not enlightenment, or even skepticism, but boredom, for this book is little more than a mundane rehash of already-familiar themes. With neither a firm narrative flow nor much new information, the volume is heavily padded and full of irksome cliches and self-confident assertions. While Bell does present worthwhile studies of Italian and Croatian terrorists, he has very little of interest to say on his central issue. Bell is stoically fatalistic about random political violence and antagonistic toward most moves to combat it: he believes they only weaken democracy and destroy civil liberties. For anyone interested in a decent study of the proper democratic response to terrorism, the book to consult is still Richard Clutterbuck’s Living with Terrorism, a thinner and less unctuous volume.

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David Pietrusza

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A Time of Terror: How Democratic Societies Respond to Revolutionary Terror, by J. Bowyer Bell (Basic, 292 pp., $10.95). Bell presents a plea for moderation in dealing with the critical problem of terrorism, and the result is not enlightenment, or even skepticism, but boredom, for this book is little more than a mundane rehash of already-familiar themes. With neither a firm narrative flow nor much new information, the volume is heavily padded and full of irksome cliches and self-confident assertions. While Bell does present worthwhile studies of Italian and Croatian terrorists, he has very little of interest to say on his central issue. Bell is stoically fatalistic about random political violence and antagonistic toward most moves to combat it: he believes they only weaken democracy and destroy civil liberties. For anyone interested in a decent study of the proper democratic response to terrorism, the book to consult is still Richard Clutterbuck’s Living with Terrorism, a thinner and less unctuous volume.