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Overview
Lives at Risk: Hostages and Victims in American Foreign Policy is the first book that provides the historical content needed to understand terrorism and America's responses to terrorist acts. Historian Russell D. Buhite here examines key instances of hostage-taking throughout U.S. history, from the late eighteenth century to the 1980s, and shows how our policies have evolved and how previous experiences can help us deal with terrorist threats today. Professor Buhite begins this study with a discussion of the special problems that the United States has faced in dealing with hostage crises. The subsequent chapters then proceed chronologically through U.S. history, narrating major hostage incidents and tracing changes in Washington's stance toward terrorists. Lives at Risk will appeal to teachers of courses in foreign policy, diplomatic history, general history, and political science.
Synopsis
Lives at Risk: Hostages and Victims in American Foreign Policy is the first book that provides the historical content needed to understand terrorism and America's responses to terrorist acts. Historian Russell D. Buhite here examines key instances of hostage-taking throughout U.S. history, from the late eighteenth century to the 1980s, and shows how our policies have evolved and how previous experiences can help us deal with terrorist threats today.
Professor Buhite begins this study with a discussion of the special problems that the United States has faced in dealing with hostage crises. The subsequent chapters then proceed chronologically through U.S. history, narrating major hostage incidents and tracing changes in Washington's stance toward terrorists. Lives at Risk will appeal to teachers of courses in foreign policy, diplomatic history, general history, and political science.
Library Journal
Of all terrorist acts, hostage-taking has been, and remains, the most difficult to manage. In the past, Washington has paid ransom, negotiated, or otherwise sought the rapid release of its subjects whenever in a bind. As its military might increased, however, the U.S. appetite for cajoling hostage-takers diminished exponentially, although it was not totally eliminated. Historian Buhite has dug deep to give us a readable account of these many tergiversations. His account of diplomatic negotiations with the USSR, China, North Korea, and Iran are first-rate, even if his policy recommendations are mundane. Little is revealed of more recent cases, presumably because of a lack of documentation, but Buhite's denunciation of our "no-ransom-no-negotiation" policy falls flat. For its historical erudition, however, this volume is recommended both to general readers as well as the scholarly community.Joseph A. Kechichian, Rand Corp., Santa Monica, Cal.