The Demon Lover: The Roots of

Offers a multi-faceted look at terrorism, including its political, cultural, and mythic connections, as well as the particular roles of men and women in terrorism

Despite its overlay of rhetoric, Morgan's challenging feminist diatribe brings a startling perspective to terrorism, which she sees as arising out of patriarchal societies' emphasis on power, control, domination and violence. In her definition, left-wing urban guerrillas, CIA dirty tricks, the Contras, white supremacist groups, nation a list resistance movements and the dropping of the bomb on Hiroshima are all terrorist acts. She traces the seeds of terrorism to the mythic herowarrior, god-king, liberatorwho glorifies vengeance. Moving into modern times, Morgan ( Sisterhood Is Global , etc.) detects a sexual component in man's penchant for violent means, and she draws on works by Henry James, Graham Greene, Doris Lessing and Marge Piercy for support. On a more personal note, she analyzes "token terrorist" women and considers herself to have been one in the late '60s. She also interviews women in Palestinian refugee camps and includes a 1978 prison talk with Patti Hearst. Morgan ends by calling for a politics of eros, of fierce tenderness, connectivity and caring.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The poet/political activist who produced the ground-breaking Sisterhood Is Global ( LJ 11/15/84), The Anatomy of Freedom ( LJ 11/15/82), etc., has written the first feminist treatise on terrorism. Here she raises questions other authors have avoided: Why are most terrorists men? Why do terrorist acts primarily victimize women and children? What is the relationship of terrorism to the patriarchal state, to the mythic hero, to messianic religion? To the economic and social policies of, among other nations, the United States? And what about the women who support terrorists, love them, live with them and sometimes through them? The book presents not only incisive analysis but compelling new material: For the first time Morgan writes of her own history as a woman warrior of the New Left. A brilliant critique; for most libraries.
- Beverly Miller, Boise State Univ. Lib., Id.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.