Immersive globe-spanning and full of detail and drama The Revolutionists is an unprecedented
account of a seismic decade that transformed the modern world. 'Brilliant beautifully
researched observed and written. An astonishing window not just into the origins of modern
terrorism but also into our own age' RORY STEWART 'A book that historians will be consulting
and profiting from for many decades to come' TOM HOLLAND In the 1970s a network of radical
extremists terrorised the West with intricately planned plane hijackings and hostage-takings.
Among them were the glamorous young Leila Khaled with her jewellery made from grenade rings
the hard-drinking Carlos the Jackal in shades and designer suits and the radical leftists of
the Baader-Meinhof Gang. United by their hatred of Israel capitalism and 'Western imperialism'
they unleashed a series of audacious attacks that brought governments to their knees and glued
the world to their televisions in morbid fascination. Drawing on decades of research recently
declassified government files secret documents and original interviews with hijackers spies
witnesses and victims Jason Burke takes us into the lives and minds of the perpetrators of
these often-deadly operations. Through their eyes - and the eyes of the unrelenting agents who
hunted them down - he uncovers a dark complex world of loyalty betrayal and commitment to
radical change at any cost. Set against the backdrop of the Cold War and packed with
revelations about iconic events such as the deadly attack on the Munich Olympic Israel's raid
on Entebbe the Iranian revolution and the rise of Islamic extremism this is a sweeping
scrupulously reported historical narrative with the pace and suspense of a thriller. The
Revolutionists pitches the reader into these tumultuous times. Ultimately it shows how a
campaign led by secular leftist revolutionaries gave way to a far more lethal movement of
conservative religious fanaticism that would dominate the decades to come. It is impossible to
understand the world today without reading this history. 'A riveting read' LINDSEY HILSUM
International Editor Channel 4 News 'A kaleidoscopic sweep through an extraordinary era told
with cool authority and a novelist's eye for detail' RORY CARROLL author of Killing Thatcher
