{"product_id":"talking-to-the-enemy-religion-brotherhood-and-the-unmaking-of-terrorists-isbn-9780061344916","title":"Talking to the Enemy: Religion, Brotherhood, and the (Un)Making of Terrorists","description":"\u003cp style=\"LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt\"\u003e“Atran explores the way terrorists think of themselves and teaches us, at last, intelligent ways to think about terrorists.”\u003cbr\u003e—Christopher Dickey, \u003cem\u003eNewsweek\u003c\/em\u003e Middle East Editor and author of \u003cem\u003eSecuring the City\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt\"\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp style=\"LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt\" class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cspan style=\"FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; FONT-SIZE: 10pt\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eTalking to the Enemy\u003c\/em\u003e by Scott Atran is an eye-opening and important book that offers readers a startling look deep inside terror groups. Based on the author’s unprecedented access to and in-depth interviews with terrorists and jihadis—including Al Qaeda, Hamas, and Taliban extremists, as well as members of other radical Islamic terror organizations—\u003cem\u003eTalking to the Enemy\u003c\/em\u003e provides fresh insight and unexpected answers to why there are people in this world willing to kill and die for a cause. A riveting, compelling work in the tradition of \u003cem\u003eThe Looming Tower\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eTerror in the Name of God\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eTalking to the Enemy\u003c\/em\u003e is required reading for anyone interested in making the world a safer, more secure place for everyone.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003eAn illuminating work of religious and cultural anthropology, \u003cem\u003eTalking to the Enemy\u003c\/em\u003e traces terrorism’s root causes in human evolution and history, touching on the nature of faith, the origins of society, the limits of reason, and the power of moral values. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThrough rigorous fieldwork and nuanced investigation, Scott Atran reminds us that terrorists are social beings influenced by the interpersonal bonds, connections, and values familiar to us all. When individuals combine notions of the homeland, a family of friends, and a band of brothers with the zeal of belief, they are capable of amazing things, both good and bad: the ancient Jewish resistance to Rome; the revolutionary founding of America;  the formation of Al-Qaeda and the resulting “fear by so many of so few.”\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA brilliant study of the social and psychological mechanisms that lead to terrorism, \u003cem\u003eTalking to the Enemy\u003c\/em\u003e rejects popular misconceptions about suicide bombers, radical Islam, and the relationship between religion and war. Atran’s surprising and insightful conclusions show how our tolerance of faith enables extremists to flourish and why atheism and science education have little effect, while providing a path for deradicalization. A timely and provocative work, \u003cem\u003eTalking to the Enemy\u003c\/em\u003e offers solutions to help us to identify terrorists today, prevent the creation of future terrorists, and ultimately make the world a safer place for everyone.\u003c\/p\u003e | \u003cp\u003e“So how, [Atran] asks, is it that religious beliefs and practices are manifest, anywhere there are people, past or present? How could evolution have favoured wasteful investment in preposterous beliefs? ... Quite a project. He relies on a combination of the most recent human sciences. ... One of his exceptional talents is in weaving together a vast number of strands that most of us keep asunder.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLondon Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Atran’s work is a brilliant exposition of the evolutionary by-product interpretation [of religion] as well as a mine of references for empirical research into the psychology of religion.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePascal Boyer, Current Anthropology\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePraise for In Gods We Trust:  “Scott Atran fell in love with anthropology in 1970 when he went to work with Margaret Mead at the American Museum of Natural History in New York and found himself surrounded by a collection of thousands of skulls. He has spent the intervening years studying human cultures all over the world, dwelling among the secretive Druze sect in Israel, documenting conservation customs among the Maya of Guatemala, and analyzing the evolution of religion everywhere, a topic he explores in his book In Gods We Trust.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDiscover magazine\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“With almost 1000 references and discussions of most of human history and culture, from Neanderthal burials to suicide-bombers in the Palestinian anti-colonialist struggle, this book is consciously and truly encyclopedic in scope, and shows both breadth and depth of scholarship...the reader finds himself constantly challenged and provoked into an intellectual ping-pong game as he follows the arguments and the huge body of findings marshaled to buttress them...Atran managed to combine the old and the new by relating the automatic cognitive operations to existential anxieties. This combination will be a benchmark and a challenge to students of religion in all disciplines.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eHuman Nature Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePraise for Cognitive Foundations of Natural History  “Only Atran could have written a book that combines deep understanding of anthropology, biological systematics, the history of science, and philosophy. The result is a book that contains more substance per page than any book I have read in a generation.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDavid L. Hull, Northwestern University\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Sets us and our governments straight about a long list of dubious assumptions. He is sure that we must talk before we shoot, and that we must learn to distinguish real threats from imagined ones.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJeremy Harding, London Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Atran deploys his formidable knowledge . . . to dissect the various dynamics that have helped form human individuals into groups, warbands, hunting parties or armies over the millennia. . . . Even more impresssive is Atran’s field research . . . research that underpins his vision of radical Islamic militancy as an adaptive social movement. . . . A very useful addition to other, more mainstream understandings of what ‘al-Qaida’ might be.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ejason Burke, The Observer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“What can be done to undo future jihadist networks? renowned anthropologist Scott Atran has carried out a very thorough study with surprising findings on what motivates those who kill and die.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eLuis Miguel Ariza, El Pais\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Atran has given us a remarkablly honest book, demonstrating that down-to-earth field work can give us a far superior understanding of what makes terrorists ‘tick’ than whole armies of armchair counterterroris ‘experts.’” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eAlex Schmid, Perspectives on Terrorism\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Talking to the Enemy is about far more than violent extremism. One of the most penetrating works of social investigation to appear in many years, it offers a fresh and compelling perspective on human conflict. ” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJohn Gray, Literary Review\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Talking to the Enemy is Atran’s impassioned call for evidence-based policy, but it’s also an ambitious survey of culture and violence. Research is the trump card here, played often and well.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDavid Shariatmadari, The Guardian\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Talking to the Enemy sets us and our governments straight about a long list of dubious assumptions. He is sure that we should talk before we shoot, that the torture chamber is the wrong place to have this conversation, and that we must learn to distinguish real threats from imagined ones.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJeremy Harding, London Review of Books\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Recommendable not just for its vivid insights into the motivation of terrorists, but also for its study of Islamic radicalization and the anthropology of religion in general..” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNew Scientist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A highly readable round-the-world examination of the jihad and its adherents. . . . Atran pieces together the lives and the backgrounds of extremists, offering insightful perspectives by placing contemporary Islamist dissent into a deeper context of human evolutionary history.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRichard Phelps, Financial Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Atran has given us a remarkably honest book, demonstrating that down-to-earth field work can give us a far superior understanding of what makes terrorists‘tick’ than whole armies of armchair counter-terrorist ‘experts.’” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePerspectives on Terrorism\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Talking to the Enemy is recommendable not just for its vivid insights into the motivation of terrorists, butalso for its study of Islamic radicalisation and the anthropology of religion in general.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMichael Bond, New Scientist\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Talking to the Enemy is an important book, by turns fascinating, dense, scientific, debatable, illuminating.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDavid Aaronovitch,  The Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“[Atran’s] rigorous research not only debunks the claims of pundits who sit lightly to academic discipline but also challenges unscientific attacks on religion by senior scientists. The political implications of his well-grounded analysis are profound but conveyed in an accessible style which left me excited and hopeful.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJohn, Lord Alderdice, Chairman of the Liberal Democrat Party in the House of Lords, former Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly and President of Liberal International\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A riveting account of the motivational basis of terrorism and field material of rare quality. Dismantling the myths that guide the so called war on terror, he provides the tools to address a global problem rationally and effectively.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCarlo Strenger, Graduate Chair of Clinical Psychology, Tel Aviv University, and columnist for Ha'aretz\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Scott Atran is one of the very few persons who understand religion and have figured out that religion is not about belief and cannot be naively replaced without severe side effects.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNassim Nicholas Taleb, Distinguished Professor, New York University Polytechnic Institute, author of the New York Times bestseller The Black Swan\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Atran’s intellectual reach is prodigious; his analysis of the underpinnings of terrorism is instructive, if often unconventional; and his provocative prescriptions merit debate and consideration.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Historically keen and astutely humanistic...the author’s deep penetration into anthropological explanations of evolution, teamwork, blood sport and war attempt to define what it means to be human.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This is a really important book…. [Atran’s] rigorous, field-based, scientific research not only debunks the claims of pundits who sit lightly to academic discipline but also challenges some of the unscientific attacks on religion by senior scientists. The political implications of his well-grounded analysis are profound but conveyed in a thoroughly accessible writing style which left me excited and hopeful. If you are at all interested in what is going on in our unstable global village you need to read this book.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJohn, Lord Alderdice, Chairman of the Liberal Democrat Party in the House of Lords, former Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly and President of Liberal International\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A riveting account of the motivational basis of terrorism and field material of rare quality. Atran has written a book engaging for the layperson, but also a document essential to the decision makers. Dismantling the myths that guide the so called war on terror, he provides the tools to address a global problem rationally and effectively.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eCarlo Strenger, Graduate Chair of Clinical Psychology, Tel Aviv University, and columnist for Ha'aretz\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Scott Atran is one of the very few persons who understand religion and have figured out that religion is not about belief and cannot be naively replaced without severe side effects.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNassim Nicholas Taleb, Distinguished Professor, New York University Polytechnic Institute, author of The New York Times bestseller The Black Swan\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Atran’s intellectual reach is prodigious; his analysis of the underpinnings of terrorism is instructive, if often unconventional; and his provocative prescriptions merit debate and consideration.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Atran is one of the world’s most important thinkers on the local and global dynamics of violent Islamist extremism. His research on what motivates young men to fall prey to violent ideologies is required reading for those trying to understand the problems of terrorism in the 21st century.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJuan Zarate, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Anthropologist Scott Atran has produced the most valuable study of fanaticism since Eric Hoffer published THE TRUE BELIEVER sixty years ago. In TALKING TO THE ENEMY, Atran explores the way terrorists think about themselves and teaches us, at last, intelligent ways to think about terrorists. He puts the threat in perspective and provides keys to winning the fight against violent zealotry.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChristopher Dickey, Newsweek Middle East Editor and author of SECURING THE CITY\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“This deeply researched, wide ranging, and very timely study provides a compelling and often surprising account of what lies behind the jihadi phenomenon . . . . It should be read carefully, and pondered.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eNoam Chomsky\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Atran explores the way terrorists think about themselves and teaches us, at last, intelligent ways to think about terrorists. He puts the threat in perspective and provides keys to winning the fight against violent zealotry.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eChristopher Dickey, Newsweek Middle East Editor and author of SECURING THE CITY\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“We all have a deep need to give meaning to our lives by serving a cause greater than ourselves. But why does this potentially ennobling need sometimes go haywire? Scott Atran talked to violent extremists to find out.  The answer, he tells us, lies in the fascinating interplay between an imagined universal brotherhood and a very real face-to-face ‘band of brothers.’ The stories Atran brings back from talking to jihadists and their supporters are gripping, and the result of his experiments that probe their sacred values are compelling. The insights he gains tell us more than we knew before about what it means to be human.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRobert Axelrod, Walgreen Professor for the Study of Human Understanding at the University of Michigan, author of The Evolution of Cooperation, and recipient of the National Academy of Sciences Award for Behavioral Research Relevant to the Prevention of Nuclear War.\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“The stories Atran brings back from talking to jihadists and their supporters are gripping, and the result of his experiments that probe their sacred values are compelling. The insights he gains tell us more than we knew before about what it means to be human.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eRobert Axelrod, Walgreen Professor for the Study of Human Understanding at the University of Michigan, author of The Evolution of Cooperation\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e“Scott Atran is one of the world’s most important and innovative thinkers on the local and global dynamics of violent Islamist extremism. . . . Required reading for those trying to understand and address the problems of terrorism in the 21st century.” - \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eJuan Zarate, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Ecco","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44889698959589,"sku":"NP9780061344916","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780061344916.jpg?v=1730231771","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/talking-to-the-enemy-religion-brotherhood-and-the-unmaking-of-terrorists-isbn-9780061344916","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}