"Terror in the Name of God: Why Religious Militants Kill" by Harvard Professor Jessica Stern is one of the books that can change the way you view international events and some of the most pressing issues on the news today. Professor Stern has written a timely, immensely important book that should be read by all scholars and public officials who try to understand such a complex issue.

The book is divided into two parts: Part I examines various possible reasons for people becoming religious militants, utilizing multiple organizations or situations to demonstrate their points. These reasons are Alienation, Humiliation, Demographics, History, and Territory. Part II takes these problems further and looks at how religious terrorist organizations operate and are structured. Finally, she makes recommendations and observations based on her research for policy makers.

The book looks at numerous terrorist causes and organizations but mainly focuses on South-East Asia and Pakistan. Given what I study, the most interesting thing for me was looking at the American terrorists from groups identifying with the Christian Identity Movement (an extreme white supremacist version of Christianity) to the "save-the-babies movement." The most eye-opening facts the book highlight are just how dangerous Al Qaeda really is (the book was written in 1999-2002). The second and in my mind scarier reality is that many "anti-Modern" terrorist organizations from Islamist groups to Neo-Nazis to Anarchists have started to realize their common enemies and have the potential to work together.

But by far the most interesting ideas of this book is that it attempts to look at wider reasons and motivations behind religious terrorism, the most potent being fears of modernity. The other idea is the evolution of terrorism into a business or social service which can fill gaps in states that are weak. This book is essential reading for anyone wanting to examine the tension between religion and modernity and the use of religion in politics today. For me, this is one of the best books I've read on the subject of religion that does not approach it from a religious standpoint but from a comparative politics or sociological standpoint.

I would have like her to have continued exploring more groups, especially in Part II when she only looks at two areas. At times, I felt that she almost wrote two books: one on the root causes of terrorism and one on the structures of terrorist organizations. Despite these structural issues, I would recommend this book to anyone and I plan on re-reading it again for emphasis soon.