Village Books Hosts Terrorism Experts

Pacific Palisades resident Jean Rosenfeld, Ph.D., and colleagues will discuss ‘Terrorism and Political Violence in the Contemporary Era’ on Thursday, March 31 at 7:30 p.m. at Village Books on Swarthmore.   Rosenfeld is an academic researcher and historian at the UCLA Center for the Study of Religion and works with a group of social scientists focused on the nexus of religion and violence. Her talk will highlight themes of domestic terrorism in a book by former white supremacist Kerry Noble, ‘Tabernacle of Hate: Seduction into Right-Wing Extremism,’ a case study which ‘stands in my estimation as one of the classic accounts by a white supremacist of his journey into darkness and out of darkness,’ Rosenfeld says. It is ‘one of the most important, readable, and gripping true narratives of our time.’   Noble was a propaganda expert for a Christian survivalist commune in the Ozark Mountains when federal and state police converged on the site in 1985. Noble, who had begun to question the religious group’s beliefs, worked in partnership with the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team to defuse the standoff, which could have devolved into a tragedy like Jonestown or Waco. His book tells the inside story of how religious movements can turn to terrorism.   In addition to crafting the introduction to the newest edition of Noble’s book, Rosenfeld has edited a collection of 15 scholarly papers on global political terrorism and violence, titled ‘Terrorism, Identity and Legitimacy: The Four Waves Theory and Political Violence.’ The papers include work by Jeffrey D. Simon, a former Rand Corporation analyst and current president of the Political Risk Assessment Company in Santa Monica, and David C. Rapoport, a professor emeritus of UCLA’s Department of Political Science and a lifelong scholar of both ancient and modern terrorism and its causes. Rapoport is described by Rosenfeld as ‘the grand old man of terrorist studies.’   Simon and Rapoport are expected to join Rosenfeld and offer insights on their latest theories in the field, including the advent of lone-wolf operators, like Major Nidal Hasan of the Ft. Hood mass shooting, and the fourth historical wave of terrorism, based in religion.   ’Before we can effectively eradicate or mitigate terrorism, we must understand it,’ Rosenfeld says. She hopes that ‘anyone who’s serious about terrorism’ will attend. Information: (310) 454-4063.