Terrorists as Monsters: The Unmanageable Other from the French Revolution to the Islamic State

From the chilling threats of the "ISIS vampire" to the view of al-Qaeda as the "Frankenstein the CIA created," terrorism seems to be inextricably bound with monstrosity. But why do the media and government officials often portray terrorists as monsters? And perhaps more puzzling, why do terrorists sometimes want to be perceived as such?

This book, the first of its kind, examines the use of archetypal metaphors of monstrosity in relation to terrorism, from the gorgons of Robespierre's "reign...