Terrorist Minds

"From one of the world's leading experts, Terrorist Minds offers an up-to-date, evidence-based understanding of the patterns, profiles, motives and mindsets of today's violent extremists from al Qaeda to the extreme right wing. The book is informed by scientific research findings from the best academic research available, presented in an accessible format. Its goal is to illuminate, educate and challenge the general reader and policy makers and practitioners about who becomes a terrorist, why, and ultimately what we can do about it. Drawing on over fifty years of psychological research on terrorism, John Horgan illustrates both the research data from studies of terrorists as well as the deeply personal journeys undertaken by terrorists into the world of violent extremism. Terrorist Minds will include never-before published interviews with the Pakistani Taliban, Somalia's al Shabaab, Al Qaeda, ISIS, America's 'homegrown' right-wing extremists, and most recently, members of the violent "Incel" community. In one of the final chapters, Horgan presents a detailed account of a series of meetings with a convicted jihadist recruiter operating within the United States. Horgan concludes with a new model of terrorist psychology that is the culmination of the author's twenty years of studying the topic"--