This book provides students with an interesting, accessible and comprehensive exploration of contemporary terrorism. This new edition is completely updated to offer the most recent theories and cases related to terrorist activity and efforts to combat terrorism over the last three years. New topics in this edition include: a new chapter on religious terrorism; coverage of cutting-edge issues; updated pedagogy: opening viewpoints that begin each chapter to express in human terms the roots and responses to terrorism. All maps, tables, case studies, and Web exercises have been updated to help students better understand the concepts and issues presented within the text. In addition, more phot's are used to help illustrate the violence caused by terrorist activity as well as provide visual context to other areas of the world and different time periods.