The Jackal: The Rise and Fall of Carlos, the World's First Super-Terrorist

The spectacular rise and dramatic fall of super-assassin Carlos the Jackal—one of history’s most infamous terrorist masterminds and the inspiration for numerous celebrated works of pop culture—told with new revelations from the Jackal himself, by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Black Flags.

A black-bereted, gun-slinging avatar of one of the most turbulent eras in global politics, Carlos the Jackal burst onto the world stage in 1975 as the first true celebrity terrorist and the TV-ready face of a violent Palestinian resistance movement that was then just beginning to gain traction. In a bloody career that would ultimately span three decades, Carlos innovated a new kind of spectacular terrorism, one that embraced hijackings, hostage crises, airport bombings, and international assassinations. And he personally masterminded one of the era’s most shocking crimes: the kidnapping for ransom of an entire conference of world oil ministers in Vienna. The polar opposite of most modern terrorists, Carlos prized large paychecks over ideology and styled himself as a swashbuckling lady’s man who, despite his charm, murdered his victims with callous disregard, often with his own hand.

Today, even from behind bars, Carlos can see his influence continue to reverberate. Through newly declassified archives, secret police files, long-repressed eyewitness accounts, and a rare interview with the Jackal himself, acclaimed journalist Joby Warrick reveals Carlos’ far-reaching legacy as a pioneer of borderless terrorist attacks designed for television.

During his twenty years on the run, the terrorist-for-hire would become a secret weapon used by autocrats to covertly attack their foes. In the process he helped transform how modern societies deal with a new kind of threat: a singular criminal mind that approaches terror with a professional’s devotion to craft.

Joby Warrick is a bestselling author, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, and national security correspondent for The Washington Post, where he has served for almost three decades. He has written extensively on topics ranging from Middle East conflicts and terrorism to nuclear proliferation. Warrick is the author of three previous works of narrative nonfiction, including the 2016 Pulitzer Prize winner Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS. A native of North Carolina, he has two adult children and lives in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, DC.