The Revolutionists | Jason Burke

In the 1970s, an unprecedented wave of international terrorism broke out around the world. More ambitious, networked and far-reaching than ever before, new armed groups terrorized the West with intricately planned plane hijackings and hostage missions, leaving governments scrambling to cope. Their motives were as diverse as their methods. Some sought to champion Palestinian liberation, others to topple Western imperialism or battle capitalism; a few simply sought adventure or power. Among them were the unflappable young Leila Khaled, sporting jewelry made from AK-47 ammunition; the maverick Carlos the Jackal with his taste for cigars, fine dining, and designer suits; and the radical leftists of the Baader-Meinhof Gang or the Japanese Red Army. Their attacks forged a lawless new battlefield thirty thousand feet in the air, evading the reach of security agencies, policymakers, and spies alike. Their operations rallied activist and networks in places where few had suspected their existence, leaving a trail of chaos from Bangkok to Paris to London to Washington, D.C.

Veteran foreign correspondent Jason Burke provides a thrilling account of this era of spectacular violence. Drawing on decades of research, recently declassified government files, still secret documents, and original interviews with hijackers, double agents, and victims still grieving their loved ones, The Revolutionists provides an unprecedented account of a period which definitively shaped today’s world and probes the complex relationship between violence, terrorism, and revolution. From the deserts of Jordan and the Munich Olympics to the Iranian Embassy Siege in London and the Beirut bombings of the early 1980s, Burke invites us into the lives and minds of the perpetrators of these attacks, as well as the government agents and top officials who sought to foil them. Charting, too, such shattering events as the Iranian Revolution and the Lebanese civil war, he shows how, by the early 1980s, a campaign for radical change led by secular, leftist revolutionaries had given way to a far more lethal movement of conservative religious fanaticism that would dominate the decades to come.

Driven by an indelible cast of characters moving at a breakneck pace, full of detail and drama, The Revolutionists is the definitive account of a dark and seismic decade.

About the Author

Jason Burke has been a foreign correspondent for almost 30 years. He studied history at Oxford before working for local and national newspapers in the UK. In 1991, he spent time with kurdish peshmerga fighters in northern Iraq, an experience which sparked a deep interest in the Middle East, and the Islamic world. In 1998, Jason was based in Pakistan and Afghanistan as a freelancer.

Since, he's worked, lived or reported across South Asia, the Middle East, Europe and Africa. He covered wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and in Israel-Palestine, and is currently the Guardian's international security correspondent.

Jason has published four critically acclaimed books. The first, al-Qaeda, was credited with significantly influencing the view of radical Islamic violence in the aftermath of 2001, while The 9/11 Wars was a book of the year for the Economist and the Independent. In 2015, the New Threat from Islamic Militancy was shortlisted for the Orwell prize, and in 2025 The Revolutionists was long listed for the Baillie Gifford prize for non fiction writing.

Jason has multiple awards for his journalism, and is a frequent commentator on radio and TV. He lives near London and enjoys running, cycling, reading, cooking, playing the piano badly and messing around with his teenage children.