Quarta di copertina

"While political speeches and public rhetoric paint the phenomena of terrorism with a black-and-white brush, presenting it as a clear-cut battle between evildoers and heroes, in reality the problem is unimaginably complex. As the director of the White House Situation Room during Ronald Reagan's second term, Michael K. Bohn spent many days and nights monitoring terrorist incidents. During his tenure, the attack on the Achille Lauro gripped the Reagan White House and riveted the world. The murder of Leon Klinghoffer, a physically disabled American citizen, at the hands of a Palestinian terrorist group seemed to provide a textbook example of good versus evil. The public seized on this simplified representation of the attack, and the government and the media did little to explore its extenuating circumstances.

"Bohn, however, takes a broader look at the Achille Lauro incident and focuses on the myriad other factors relevant to evaluating the attack and its place in history. Although the Achille Lauro incident may never resonate like 9/11, Michael Bohn's The Achille Lauro Hijacking presents a timely case study of the complex forces that shape both terrorism and the responses it triggers, from which valuable insights and broader conclusions can be drawn."