Are religious terrorist groups more likely than secular groups to use weapons of mass destruction? How do the media at once promote and combat terrorist attacks? How has terrorism evolved into a multimillion-dollar operation in the Middle East?

Bruce Hoffman addresses these questions as he describes the changing face of terrorism, probing the new adversaries, new motivations, and new methods that have surfaced in recent years to challenge many of our most fundamental assumptions about terrorists and how they operate. Hoffman dissects terrorism past and present, charting its evolution and predicting where it might be headed in the next century.

These fringe groups are built upon - and react to - a sense of isolation, and are more likely to use weapons of mass destruction than the nationalist terrorist groups with which we are familiar.

Hoffman also considers the issue of media coverage and how it relates to political power. Although the media provide a platform for terrorist agendas, terrorists achieve their ultimate political goals by exploiting the media, and are often captured as a result of news reports - as in the Unabomber case. South Africa's African National Congress, which won sympathy for its plight and eventually obtained power in part through terrorist activities, is a rare exception to the rule.