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Hacker's book, so far as I know, is the first to deal with terror and terrorism on a psychological basis only, as compared with a flood of books published or to be published by historians, journalists, sociologists, etc. Hacker is very well qualified to deal with his chosen subject because of his first-hand experience with terrorists.
Theoretically, Hacker attempts to define terror as something which is inflicted from above and which is the manufacturing and spreading of fear by dictators, governments and bosses. It is the attempt of the powerful to exert control through intimidation. On the other hand, terrorism, which is imposed 'from below' is the manufacturing and spreading of fear by rebels, revolutionaries and their protesters. It is the attempt of the powerless, the would-be powerful, to exert control through intimidation. Terror and terrorism are not the same, but they belong together, indissolubly linked by the shared belief that fear is the strength, if not the only, effective human motivation and that is the best, if not the only, method to produce and maintain fear. Hacker states that terror and terrorism interrupt the dreary routines of everyday life by stimulating and entertaining us. In his book, the author feels that it is vitally important to identify the terrorists and their motivations and to deal with our own blinding fear. In his clinical and forensic practice he has seen and evaluated every conceivable form of explosive symptomatic violence, most of which is both the cause and the effect of guilt, anxiety and defiance. He has no doubt that violent acts often indicate sickness, emotional imbalance or brain disorder. However, to regard aggression as nothing but the expression of disturbed emotions or the manifestation of twisted brain cells is to misconstrue totally what proper strategic violence is all about. He feels that not only Hitler, Stalin, de Gaulle, Castro and Che Guevara, but also many American presidents and presidential can