Terrorism & Extremism

Terrorism & Extremism is part of the Crabtree’s “Our Values” series. This series is an eclectic mix of topics which claims to help students “appreciate the diversity of cultures and faiths of the people around them, [so] they will discover what it means to be part of a society”.
Terrorism & Extremism fails to achieve this goal. Although the photos show a good diversity of races, sexes, ages, and ethnicities, the text is not always concise or clear, as the excerpt at the beginning of this review demonstrates.

The writing is often confusing and sometimes contradicts itself. The excerpt above, from page 8, is contradicted by the following passage in page 9. According to the passage from page 8, the “norm” cannot be extremist; therefore, “extremist views are the norm” is an impossibility.
“Sometimes, a person is born in a place in which extremist views are the norm, such as Saudi Arabia, where gender segregation is normal.”

In the chapter, “Types of Terrorism”, state terrorism is defined as “a government’s use of violence against its citizens, against opposing political groups, or against foreign governments or groups”. This section is accompanied by a photo of a line of police in full riot gear. In Canada, police in riot gear are more likely to be maintaining peace than involved in state terrorism. The juxtaposition of the photo and discussion of types of terrorism seems unjustified and misleading.

Conclusion: Terrorism and extremism are difficult topics to discuss at any level. The topics are complex and can be very emotionally charged, especially but not only for young students who may have experienced terrorism and extremism and be very confused about what has happened to them. The topics deserve a better presentation and examination than Terrorism & Extremism gives them.