The no-nonsense guide to terrorism

Jonathan Barker, Verso, 144 pages, paperback, £7.00

This is one of the latest titles in the excellent Verso/New Internationalist series on current political issues.

The book aims to put terrorism and counter-terrorism "in the context of a divided world in which the increasing socio-economic divisions are leading to a degree of bitterness and alienation that is rarely recognised in western states".

Jonathan Barker provides a brief history of terrorism and covers moral and political theories of terror, as well as trying to analyse the contexts in which groups and states use terror.

In a world where governments from the US to Zimbabwe are clamping down on democratic liberties in the name of the "war on terror" this is an informative and accessible guide.