by R. Scott Appleby (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2000)

Terrorists and peacemakers may grow up in the same community and adhere to the same religious tradition. The killing carried out by one and the reconciliation fostered by the other indicate the range of dramatic and contradictory responses to human suffering by religious actors. Yet religion's ability to inspire violence is intimately related to its equally impressive power as a force for peace, especially in the growing number of conflicts around the world that involve religious claims and religiously inspired combatants. This book was commissioned by the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict and emerged out of a conference co-sponsored by the Commission and the Kroc Institute at Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem in 1995 which explored these issues. It explains what religious terrorists and religious peacemakers share in common, what causes them to take different paths in fighting injustice, and how a deeper understanding of religious extremism can and must be integrated more effectively into our thinking about tribal, regional, and international conflict.

The full text of this book is available online.

(Books may be ordered through Rowman and Littlefield, Order Department, 15200 NBN Way, P.O. Box 191, Blue Ridge Summit, PA 17214 USA, telephone 800-462-6420, fax 800-338-4550.)

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