Terrorists in Love

The Real Lives of Islamic Radicals

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Imagine a world where a boy’s dreams dictate the behavior of warriors in battle ; where a young couple’s only release from forbidden love is death; where a suicide bomber survives only to become fiercely pro-American. This is the world of Terrorists in Love.

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Free Press |
336 pages |
ISBN 9781451672589 |
June 2012

$15.00 List Price

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Praise

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“Revealing, often touching interviews with six young Islamic men.… [Their] stories cast a revealing light on an exotic, unfamiliar culture.”

– Kirkus Reviews

“The 9/11 Commission grappled with the question of what drove the 19 hijackers to their terrorist acts in 2001, but we did not have time to investigate and fully understand their motives. Ken Ballen’s exhaustive research,... ”

– Lee H. Hamilton, former Congressman and Co-Chair of the 9/11 Commission

“Ken Ballen has managed the impossible for an American. He has worked his way into the intimate thoughts and frustrations and family conflicts that drove six young Muslims toward the jihadist movement, and he presents his findings... ”

– David K. Shipler, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Arab and Jew and The Rights of the People: How Our Search for Safety Invades Our Liberties

“It’s simply astonishing how much Ken Ballen, an outsider, penetrated the closed world of Islamic radicals. In a fast moving, absorbing and at times shocking narrative, Ballen destroys stereotypes and defies conventional... ”

– Ammar Abdulhamid, former Islamic radical and leading pro-democracy activist in the Arab world

“Many authors write about terrorism. Ken Ballen took the rare step of talking directly to terrorists. If you want to understand them, read their stories, in their own words. By giving them voice, this book offers a rarely-seen... ”

– Philip Mudd, Former Deputy Director of the Counterrorism Center at the CIA, former Senior Intelligence Advisor for the FBI, and Senior Global Advisor, Oxford Analytica

“A valuable, even-handed and insightful window into the mindsets and emotions of jihadi terrorists. Ballen draws a telling portrait of the human side of terrorists, from childhood traumas to moments of transformation to radicalism... ”

– Karen Greenberg, author of The Least Worst Place: Guantanamo’s First 100 Days

“Terrorists in Love shatters the dominant dispassionate treatment of modern day Islamic purveyors of death and destruction and instead offers a profoundly intimate portal into the fragile, emotional, even sexual factors that drive... ”

– Steve Clemons, Washington Editor-at-Large, The Atlantic and Senior Fellow & Founder, American Strategy Program

“Deploying techniques developed during his two decades as a prosecutor and investigator, Ken Ballen interviewed more than a hundred Islamist terrorists in depth, evincing from them their inner stories. Here he profiles six of these... ”

– Daniel Pipes, founder and president of the Middle East Forum, and author of Militant Islam Reaches America

“Ballen not only gets beneath the skin of terrorists, but all the way into their hearts, revealing unimaginable emotional and personal secrets. He has shed surprising light on the never-ending question about militant jihadis----what... ”

– Jane Mayer, bestselling author of The Dark Side

“An unusual atlas of extremism -- a riveting, behind-the-scenes look at the events that turned six young Muslims into terrorists.”

– Washington Post

“[Ballen] adds nuance to a problem that Americans have tended to understand only in terms of good and evil …a much more human--though no less terrifying--picture of [those] committed to defeating the United States and Western... ”

– The Boston Globe

“Illuminating, if harrowing, real-life love stories of Muslim extremists. From their sexual desires and liaisons to frustration with the backlash against these romantic fantasies, to mystical dreams and fiery verses summoning them... ”

– The St. Louis Dispatch

“[A] disturbing, intimate look inside another world.”

– The San Jose Mercury News

“[A] ground-breaking book . . . Ballen seeks to dispel our mislaid conceptions of terrorism in order to show the personal struggles and inner demons that inspire an individual to dedicate their life to the jihad…”

– Urban Times

“An unprecedented and unusual look at Islamic radicalism.”

– Publishers Weekly

“More than a captivating read…exposing first-hand personal accounts…within the terrorist movement [that] likely will hasten its demise.”

– Foreign Policy

“One of the most in-depth looks at individual terrorists' lives currently available . . . helps reverse some major misconceptions about the motives of these attackers. Ultimately, in Terrorists in Love, Ballen is bringing us closer... ”

– The Huffington Post

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Read an Excerpt

1

AHMAD’S TRIP TO HEAVEN AND BACK

CNN LED the news on Christmas Day 2004:

On the heels of a visit to Iraq by U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, a fuel truck driven by a suicide bomber exploded Friday in western Baghdad….

At least eight people were killed and 20 others wounded by the explosion…. Fifteen people, including women and children, were in critical condition, and many had suffered severe burns, hospital officials said….

Baghdad police said they were looking for another fuel truck in the area and a BMW that they believe is associated...

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Book Reviews

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Reading Group Guide

This reading group guide for Terrorists in Love includes an introduction, discussion questions, ideas for enhancing your book club, and a Q&A with author Ken Ballen. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Introduction

Recounting the personal stories of six current and reformed Islamic terrorists, Ken Ballen presents a moving and elucidating view into the motivations of radicals, their loves, and, for some, their ultimate regrets. Ballen was granted unprecedented access in Pakistan to current and former Taliban fighters and in Saudi Arabia to jihadists who fought in Iraq, including residents of a prison facility designed to re-integrate former jihadists into the mainstream culture. His profiles expose the very hearts of these militant jihadists, showing that there is hope for peace.

Topics & Questions for Discussion

1. The title of the book is Terrorists in Love. How does love—or the lack of love—play a role in each of these stories? Why do you think Ballen gave the book this title? Do you think it the best title to encompass the stories?

2. Dreams play an important role in Ballen’s accounts of these six very different individuals. Discuss the “true night dreams” that were mo see more

Video

Ken Ballen & Peter Bergen discuss: TERRORISTS IN LOVE

Ken Ballen and Peter Bergen discuss the work that gives readers a window into the world of violent extremism with profiles of six terrorists, their lives, loves, and deadly missions.