Reddit reviews Violent Politics: A History of Insurgency, Terrorism, and Guerrilla War, from the American Revolution to Iraq

> I've heard it hypothesized - maybe by Noam Chomsky of all people - that it's because the one thing we're all guaranteed to learn about America at an early age is a trumped up version of the Revolutionary War.

This is a very good book that goes into great detail about the American insurgency before and during the American Revolution. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061236209/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I learned a lot from it, and the most surprising was the sort of terrorist tactics colonists used against Loyalists and the British. To sum it up, the colonial Americans in that period of time behaved a lot like how more modern terrorist and insurgent groups do; taking hostages, killing as an example, ransoms on Loyalist families, etc. It was pretty eye opening and not something I learned in classes both at the high school and college level. Very interesting read if you have the time.

If your terrorist group is pro-slavery, would it really elevate a member of the enslaved class to its leadership? I mean, wouldn’t that call into question the whole ideology that undergirds the system?

To my knowledge, even though antebellum white Southerners claimed that their slaves were happy with their lot, no African-American slaves actually volunteered to fight against abolition. However, you can find many historical examples of colonized/oppressed groups siding with “the other side” in a civil war: first-century Jews siding with the Romans (the most famous being Flavius Josephus), Tories during the American Revolution, Irish Catholics aiding the British, Palestinians who collaborated with the Israeli government, and so on.

Why would someone choose that side? (a) They believe (possibly because they have absorbed the prejudice of their oppressors) that if their ethnic group wins the war, the resulting government would be even worse; (b) They believe that their ethnic group is doomed to lose so they might as well side with the eventual victors; (c) They have been promised special favors or rewards in return for collaboration.

ETA: Something to keep in mind — nationalist revolutionary groups are often more brutal to suspected collaborators than they are toward the government they’re rebelling against, because the first step of a successful revolt is to deny the occupying power the ability to keep order within occupied territory. See the book Violent Politics.

Read this:
http://www.amazon.com/Violent-Politics-Insurgency-Terrorism-Revolution/dp/0061236209/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1299722027&sr=8-1