From Publishers Weekly
A book on suicide bombers has the potential to be gripping and revelatory. With such a title as the one above, it's not unreasonable to expect a first-person account of the motivations of a would-be bomber or plenty of material taken from primary-source interviews. Unfortunately, this is not the book it presents itself to be. Instead, Reuter, a reporter for the German magazine Stern, provides a serviceable introduction to the modern history of suicide bombing by Hezbollah, Hamas, the Iranian children's battalions in the Iran-Iraq war and Japanese kamikaze pilots, among others. While the research is good, Reuter tells us nothing that has not already been written about in other books or magazines. He did conduct a handful of interviews with the mothers of suicide bombers. However, these were arranged by the sponsoring terrorist organization, so it's unclear whether the mothers' expressions of pride and happiness over their sons' deaths are their true sentiment or if they are simply reciting group propaganda. Nor does Reuter offer much analysis. Other interviews are with intelligence and law enforcement agents, whose input helps to better understand the logistics of suicide operations but does not shed much light on the psyche of the would-be bombers. Other books by scholars who conducted interviews directly with would-be bombers and terrorist combatants have set a higher standard; examples include Jessica Stern's Terror in the Name of God and Joyce Davis's Martyrs. Though not bad, Reuter's account falls short of the current caliber of such material on the subject.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


Michael Binyon, The Times
" concise, well-researched and illuminating study."


William S. Kowinski, San Francisco Chronicle
"with solid exposition, sharp observations and flashes of insight."


Brendan Conway, New York Sun
Show[s] how lamentable is the ethos of chauvinism and pride that supports suicide terrorism. But also how fragile and contrived.


William S. Kowinski , San Francisco Chronicle
This is a journalist's history . . . with solid exposition, sharp observations and flashes of insight.


L. Carl Brown, Foreign Affairs
"Fine first-hand reporting is combined with a sensitive effort to explain."


Jane Adas, The Christian Century
"This insightful, sensitively written book deserves a wide audience."


Jane Adas , Christian Century
This insightful, sensitively written book deserves a wide audience.


Review
We are as yet a long way from fully understanding the various manifestations of suicide terrorism and its motives, but My Life Is a Weapon is an important contribution. Reuter has traveled for years through Arab countries, the Middle East and Central Asia and is able to talk more or less freely to people and read texts usually not accessible to the average foreign correspondent. His account of suicide terrorism is, to the best of my knowledge, the first (of its kind) in any language.


Book Description
What kind of people are suicide bombers? How do they justify their actions? In this meticulously researched and sensitively written book, journalist Christoph Reuter argues that popular views of these young men and women--as crazed fanatics or brainwashed automatons--fall short of the mark. In many cases these modern-day martyrs are well-educated young adults who turn themselves into human bombs willingly and eagerly--to exact revenge on a more powerful enemy, perceived as both unjust and oppressive. Suicide assassins are determined to make a difference, for once in their lives, no matter what the cost. As Reuter's many interviews with would-be martyrs, their trainers, friends, and relatives reveal, the bombers are motivated more by how they expect to be remembered--as heroic figures--than by religion-infused visions of a blissful life to come. Reuter, who spent eight years researching the book, moves from the broken survivors of the childrens' suicide brigades in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, to the war-torn Lebanon of Hezbollah, to Israeli-occupied Palestinian land, and to regions as disparate as Sri Lanka, Chechnya, and Kurdistan. He tells a disturbing story of the modern globalization of suicide bombing--orchestrated, as his own investigations have helped to establish, by the shadowy Al Qaeda network and unintentionally enabled by wrong-headed policies of Western governments. In a final, hopeful chapter, Reuter points to today's postrevolutionary, post-Khomeini Iran, where a new social environment renounces the horrific practice in the very place where it was enthusiastically embraced just decades ago.


From the Inside Flap
"Christoph Reuter's modern history of suicide bombing helps put today's headlines into context. As Reuter's assessment makes clear, suicide killers are not irrational fanatics, but cost-effective weapons employed by rational organizations. Reuter traveled around the world to talk with 'martyr's' families and their tutors, reporting what he found in lucid, often moving prose. The world would be a far safer place if our leaders were to heed his wise words of advice."--Jessica Stern, author of Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill "This engaging book brings us face to face with scores of determined activists who kill and die for God. Yet it is more than a series of portraits. This thoughtful study reflects on the social contexts and historical moments that give rise to such extremes, and calls for a tempered world view that would reduce the frequency of such tragic, lethal acts. There is nothing quite like it."--Mark Juergensmeyer, author of Terror in the Mind of God: The Global Rise of Religious Violence "Christoph Reuter's new study makes an important contribution to the growing field of suicide terrorism. Many readers will benefit from his comprehensive coverage of the historical record of both Islamic and non-Islamic cases."--Robert Pape, University of Chicago


About the Author
Christoph Reuter is a reporter and international correspondent for the German magazine "Stern".

FROM THE PUBLISHER

What kind of people are suicide bombers? How do they justify their actions? In this meticulously researched and sensitively written book, journalist Christoph Reuter argues that popular views of these young men and women -- as crazed fanatics or brainwashed automatons -- fall short of the mark. In many cases these modern-day martyrs are well-educated young adults who turn themselves into human bombs willingly and eagerly -- to exact revenge on a more powerful enemy, perceived as both unjust and oppressive. Suicide assassins are determined to make a difference, for once in their lives, no matter what the cost. As Reuter's many interviews with would-be martyrs, their trainers, friends, and relatives reveal, the bombers are motivated more by how they expect to be remembered -- as heroic figures -- than by religion-infused visions of a blissful life to come. Reuter, who spent eight years researching the book, moves from the broken survivors of the childrens' suicide brigades in the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, to the war-torn Lebanon of Hezbollah, to Israeli-occupied Palestinian land, and to regions as disparate as Sri Lanka, Chechnya, and Kurdistan. He tells a disturbing story of the modern globalization of suicide bombing -- orchestrated, as his own investigations have helped to establish, by the shadowy al-Qaeda network and unintentionally enabled by wrong-headed policies of Western governments. In a final, hopeful chapter, Reuter points to today's postrevolutionary, post-Khomeini Iran, where a new social environment renounces the horrific practice in the very place where it was enthusiastically embraced just decades ago.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

A book on suicide bombers has the potential to be gripping and revelatory. With such a title as the one above, it's not unreasonable to expect a first-person account of the motivations of a would-be bomber or plenty of material taken from primary-source interviews. Unfortunately, this is not the book it presents itself to be. Instead, Reuter, a reporter for the German magazine Stern, provides a serviceable introduction to the modern history of suicide bombing by Hezbollah, Hamas, the Iranian children's battalions in the Iran-Iraq war and Japanese kamikaze pilots, among others. While the research is good, Reuter tells us nothing that has not already been written about in other books or magazines. He did conduct a handful of interviews with the mothers of suicide bombers. However, these were arranged by the sponsoring terrorist organization, so it's unclear whether the mothers' expressions of pride and happiness over their sons' deaths are their true sentiment or if they are simply reciting group propaganda. Nor does Reuter offer much analysis. Other interviews are with intelligence and law enforcement agents, whose input helps to better understand the logistics of suicide operations but does not shed much light on the psyche of the would-be bombers. Other books by scholars who conducted interviews directly with would-be bombers and terrorist combatants have set a higher standard; examples include Jessica Stern's Terror in the Name of God and Joyce Davis's Martyrs. Though not bad, Reuter's account falls short of the current caliber of such material on the subject. (May) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Foreign Affairs